Away From Me
by JeiC
Summary: I need sanctuary from myself...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I really should just make one catch-all disclaimer and use it all the time, but alas, I write a new one every time. So it's gonna be the same old I don't own Gundam Wing, but I did write this story so please keep my name on it if you're gonna pass it along.  
Author's Notes: Not much to say other than this has been a long time project (mostly 'cause I kept going back to rewrite it because I wasn't happy with it) of mine that just stemmed from a picture I once saw of Duo sitting in a window watching the rain outside. If you're looking to listen to the song that inspired this fic, "Away From Me" by Evanescence, it is on the Origin album.  
And yes, this is a multi-part story…I'm probably going to keep to one chapter equals one day since while I had initially wanted to write this as a one shot and as a songfic, I thought these changes suited it better.  
Warnings: angst, language, yaoi implications

**Away From Me  
****Chapter 1**

by JeiC  
----------  
_I hold my breath as this life starts to take its toll  
---  
_"Mr. Maxwell, please have a seat." Oh, this isn't good. To rate a 'mister' is bad, but to be told to sit is worse. Une looks directly at me once I have seated myself in front of her desk. "Do you know why I have requested your presence?"

A comedic reply is the first thing that comes to mind, but I know better than to piss her off. "Honestly, no, ma'am. I may listen to what the rumor mill is saying, but I know not to believe what cannot be backed up with facts." I also know that Une prefers to hear the whole truth no matter how trivial or unrelated it may sound. Sometimes coming from me it is over the top, but I can't be accused of withholding information.

The Preventers executive grabs a file from the top of the pile to her right and opens it. "We need to talk about your most recent training exercise…"

Schooling my outward expression as to not give her the advantage, I inquire, "What do you wish to discuss, Lady Une?" I don't like that the rumor mill has been pretty accurate on this one. That and all this proper talk is killing me.

"You're an exemplary officer, and up until now, you've had a spotless record. This is obviously an isolated incident, but I do have some questions about the report you submitted." Une waves a packet of papers that I recognize as the said report that I turned in. "In here you state many reasons, all quite valid, for your actions, but nevertheless you still broke protocols. Why is that?"

Silently I take a deep breath before beginning my explanation. Not sure how much good this is going to do me, and during my moment's pause, I absently run a hand through my bangs. "Ma'am, even though this was a training exercise, I still treated it as if it was a real mission. Stuff went wrong and my goal was to keep my teammates alive as well as rescue the hostages. To achieve those goals, given the circumstances, I had to break protocol."

Not the best speech I've given, but I have to admit, I've come quite far for a street-rat. I don't need to regurgitate my report, just summarize the reasons for my actions in a way that might appeal to Lady Une. That and if I rambled too much, she might simply shoot me. The former OZ soldier is definitely a woman who doesn't like to mince words.

Une nods, acknowledging that she actually listened to what I just said. The silence is broken only by her flipping the pages of the report, most likely to compare what I had just stated. "I understand your reasoning, Maxwell, but the fact of the matter is that it was a training exercise. This is where people are allowed to make mistakes so that they can learn from them before they get out into the field." She sits back in her chair and folds her hands on her lap.

Reigning my temper in, I counter, "Pardon my bluntness, ma'am, but this was a high-level training exercise – there were mistakes being made that only the trainees should be making. It was simple carelessness."

The head of the Preventers raised an eyebrow at my comeback. "I admit that you are indeed correct about the performance of the others and I admire your standards even when it comes to a training exercise, but that still does not excuse your breaking protocol. What do you think the others at your level would have done?"

Here I have to admit defeat, "They most likely would have stuck to protocol even though they would have lost some of their teammates and the hostages despite their best efforts, given the same situation I was faced with." It isn't a total defeat for me though.

"I understand your dilemma, but I wonder if perhaps you have been under a lot of stress lately, which might explain your reaction to the training exercise." Une flips open my file. "I'm concerned about the amount of time you spend on the job." Somehow, I don't like the turn that this conversation has taken. "You're here sometimes seven days a week and anywhere from twelve to twenty-four hours…enough that most people believe that you live in the dorms, not an hour out of town. Why?"

Irk…this is not cool. Every reason that I have wouldn't make sense to her and any reason that I can come up with quickly, that is true, sounds pathetic. My hand runs through my bangs again, trying to come up with a reason that is actually feasible other than I have nothing better to do with my life.

"Are you having trouble with your roommate? Your housemates? Something else in your personal life?" I think I'm more frightened of Lady Une when she pulls out her version of being a mother hen than when she was trying to kill me during the early days of the first war.

Snapping my attention away from my introspection, I reply quickly, "Nothing like that. The guys are great." I don't like being thrown off my game like this. "I just…" Shit, she really does want an explanation – I was half hoping that I could wait her out. "I take pride in my work." Yes ladies and gentlemen, I picked the lamest excuse I could find, which isn't a lie – I just don't have a life outside of work.

The Preventers head sees right through my pathetic attempt. "If it wasn't for the fact that you consistently ask for more work, I'd ask if your workload was too much. Not to mention all the time you spend both in training and in the field. In the time you've been with the Preventers, it seems you've logged almost as much time in both than Yuy and Chang combined." Une closes my file and looks straight at me, "Help me out here, Maxwell, what is wrong?"

Is there something wrong? I resist the urge to tug on my braid to make sure that this is real. "I'm not sure I understand what the correlation is between my performance in the training exercise and my work ethics, ma'am."

Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Une sounds almost dejected, "I guess I have no other choice than to take you off of active duty and have you report to a base psychologist for evaluation. Consider this me making you take at least a portion of the vacation time you have stock piled."

Biting my tongue, I glare right at her. Anything I say from here on out to her can be used against me, so I have to choose my words even more carefully than before. I need this job – more to have some direction in my life rather than for the money. Have I yet mentioned how much this absolutely sucks? Great way to be a total fuck-up, Maxwell. "Is there anything else you wish to discuss, ma'am?"

"No, but I do want you to take care of yourself. I brought you boys on board because all of you are extremely talented, I don't want you working yourselves into the ground though." As Lady Une stood up, I mirrored her movement. "Go home, Duo. Get some rest. Start a new hobby or pick up an old one. We know how to find you when we need you."

"Yes, ma'am." Taking that as a dismissal, I turn and leave her spacious office.

Halfway out the door her voice stops me again, "Someone will be contacting you to set up an appointment."

"I understand." Closing the door behind me, my jester's mask slides into place – no need to upset the rest of the employees here.

Everything is going downhill at breakneck speeds and I want to get off. Of the five of us, I know I'm the most fucked in the head, but the last thing I need is to see some damn shrink. At least not a single person that I pass in the halls thinks I'm anywhere near as pissed off as I actually am, well, except for the one coming up behind me.

"Maxwell," a smooth, slightly accented low alto speaks.

"Hey, Chang," I greet in the manner to match my smile. His walk is easily identifiable among the others. Great guy to work with, but I'm just not in the mood for his dry, sarcastic humor. I hope my best friend here has some sense of self-preservation.

"Glad to see you in such a good mood. I take it Une granted you the time off you requested," The Chinese man says off-handedly. I can feel his eyes glancing at me from the side. He knows, but he's saving me face – he doesn't have to. "So what are your plans for your vacation?"

Though now I have to play along, "Nothing spectacular. Just going to stay at home so it'll be easier if I have to pop back into the office." Not that Lady Une would allow anyone to call me in for anything at this point.

"That's a shame. I was hoping you were going someplace interesting." Wufei wants the whole story, but he's not going to push, nor is he going to blow the cover he set up for me.

I shrug nonchalantly. "I've got a doctor's appointment coming up. Besides, I see the world and the colonies more than I see my own apartment."

My hall companion laughed lightly, "That is most certainly true, my friend. Sometimes I wonder why you bother paying rent."

Our banter continued lightly to disarm the rumors floating about as we make our trek to my office. To be honest, disarming rumors tends to be a lot more tedious than disarming most bombs. Wufei is one of the coolest guys I've ever worked with once I got past the masks he wears. Sometimes he's like a walking fortune cookie, though I wouldn't try to bite him.

At least he's keeping the dry sarcastic humor to a minimum while collecting the information he wants. I'm not fond of the code we're using to talk since it is even a stretch to go from asking for vacation time to actually being forced to take a vacation. It's bordering on that deadly line of lying.

Reaching my office, I unlock the door and enter first with Wufei not far behind me, who shuts the door to allow us some privacy.

In my line of sight is my Preventers Special Ops certificate. Was this really the path I should've chosen? Should I have just gone back to the scrap yard after the incident with those terrorists? I had been contemplating getting a degree in something or other, but when Sally dragged me back into action, I was still trying to decide what. My decision of "if" had been finalized before that – mostly by Hilde threatening to kick my ass (or attempt to anyway) if I didn't. "What" and "where" were my last two questions to find the answers for.

Maybe in the end I was just kidding myself on all of it. Digging my bag out from under my desk, I start packing up what little I kept here – a couple of pictures, an extra hair brush, some spare change I kept in my desk for when I needed to raid the vending machine…

"I'm taking it you weren't joking about the 'doctor's appointment,'" Chang comments as he takes a seat in one of the chairs in front of my desk, observing my actions.

"Psych eval," is my only reply.

Running a hand over his sharply pulled back hair, his expression tells me that even he thinks it's a bit much. "That aside, you really are long overdue for a break, Duo."

His usage of my first name grabs my attention. The proud Chinese man only uses it in private when he's being serious about an issue. It's odd how you get used to how people use your name to determine their mindset, though he's never used it in the office before. "Am I?"

"For the love of whatever it is you believe in, yes." Mentally I snicker since that's a line he picked up from me, but I admit to feeling a bit odd having it used on me. "You're going to work yourself to death, and that is a most dishonorable way to die for a former Gundam pilot."

I raise an eyebrow at him, "What about Quatre?"

Wufei stares down my attempt at redirecting the conversation. Bastard. "Winner knows how to delegate."

I laugh lightly at how my attempts to run and hide so I can regroup are being shot down. To cover my falter, I jibe back, "That and you can't seem to kill him anyway…"

"Duo…"

Dammit.

"You have to take care of yourself otherwise you'll be good to no one."

Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I head towards the door, yanking it open with slightly more force than necessary. "This is all I'm good at, Wufei."

Halfway out the door, his voice barely reaches me, "Time to find out what else you're good at."

Beating the pulp out of someone right about now sounds like something that I'd be good at also, but that'd kill whatever decency Une gave me in retreating. My mask is in place so none of the people I pass in the halls thinks any different than what they had seen before on my way in. Nope, nothing out of the ordinary here, just going home way ahead of schedule. Oh, wait, these people never see me leave. Damn…maybe they'll think I'm heading out on a mission or something.

Normally I don't care what people that I really don't know think of me, but for someone who soaks up the rumor mill and sorts through what is fact and what is fiction, the last thing I need to hear about is the braided blunder. I try to stay out of that which I study, though there's always something benign and completely fabricated floating about – usually about my availability for a date.

I'm supposed to set an example for the others, not be fucking my whole career up like this. As I make my way to the parking garage, my mind goes through scenario after scenario of what I could've done to achieve the same results. My specialties are in stealth and explosives, as opposite as those two are, as well as hacking. I can hold my own against Heero, though I'm not the master himself. It usually takes a lot of fancy dodging and weaving to not get hacked by him, but I digress.

Unlocking my truck, I hop in and just sit, staring at the sleek, black hood of the Jeep. Deathscythe, buddy, you could take me a lot farther away, though I'm not saying that what I'm driving isn't a good, rugged vehicle, it's obviously no where near the same. Mostly in that I don't have the same repertoire with my truck as I did with my mobile suit.

Speaking of Heero, he's going to kill me for sure when he hears of my massive fuck-up. He's still scheduled to be out on a mission for another thirteen days. Thirteen days without someone who I consider closer than a best friend to talk to about this and thirteen days 'til I die. I shove the key in the ignition to punctuate the sentence in my head.

Taking a deep, calming breath, I start the Jeep up and think about it for a moment. The blue-eyed Japanese man wouldn't actually kill me since I might have just committed career suicide, but I think I'd be out of a place to stay.

Waving at the gate guard as I pass off the grounds, who looks quite perplexed at who is passing him, I begin my long drive back to the apartment. It's odd really…I can't recall the last time that I saw my surroundings in daylight. When I started, I stayed long hours right from day one since I wanted to prove my worth and therefore I had a lot to learn, and eventually it just stuck. That and I learned to leave early very quickly in order to beat rush hour traffic and found sticking around later made it easier to get home once the traffic had died down.

My mind wanders to things far unrelated from recent events with the music playing as my body manages to get me home on autopilot. Sometimes, I can perform truly frightening tasks while zoned out. Maybe someday I should get these crazy stories out of my head and onto paper. Well, there's something for me to do during my sudden large amounts of free time. There's probably stuff that needs to be repaired or whatever around the house as well.

As I pull up in the driveway, another thought crosses my mind: I should start packing. Not sure where I should go, but I should be prepared to have to move out when Heero comes back. Won't take me long so I can wait until next week sometime.

You know, I never really realized how huge this place is. For a 2-tenement that normally houses three single guys, sometimes five if Quatre and Trowa are in town, it's big enough to allow us a fair amount of privacy even if we are sharing an apartment.

Letting myself into the house, I trudge past Wufei's apartment door as I head upstairs to reach the apartment I share with the blue-eyed Japanese man. Fumbling with my keys, I find that I'm getting annoyed with myself over such a small detail – I never have this problem with my office door. That and it might be faster if I picked the lock instead…though Chang or Yuy would surely kill me if he ever found out that I had. We sort of have this unspoken agreement to try to not use our skills here unless absolutely necessary.

My hand doesn't even go for the light switch – guess I can't help keeping up my ability to navigate in the dark, though it's midday so that doesn't matter anyway. That and Heero's bedroom is closer to the door than mine so I would wake him up if this were night and he was here…do not wake up the former Gundam pilot of Wing and Wing Zero if you can help it. Just trust me on this one. I still think that the Zero system is messing with his head, but that's just my crazed, non-factual theory.

Dropping my bag after I secured the door, I move to take my boots off next. I have to admit, whoever started the tradition deserves recognition – saves so much on having to clean after dirty shoes tracking through the place. I place my boots along the left side of the doorway, glancing back at the empty right side. Thirteen days until most likely mud-caked boots will be placed there. I'm still not sure how he manages to come back so filthy, but…I stop my thoughts there. I feel like some damn school girl with a crush, but at least unlike said stereotype, I know better than to hope or allow my feelings control my actions to possibly screw up what little good I have going.

Picking my bag back up, I wander off towards the room that I have claimed as my private sanctuary. There isn't much here, I notice as I plop my bag beside my desk, but out of the way of the chair. I've gotten the wheels caught in my bag straps enough to know better. A bed, my clothes are in the walk-in closet, the desk, nightstand, and a small table beside the desk holding various items…my high school diploma being one of them.

Picking the small portfolio-style frame, I read over the wording and wonder how much I've been kidding myself. High honors – that's a joke. Guess I busted my ass for nothing once again. Placing it back down before I decide to something stupid like throw it, I put it back down, placing the gold cord that I wore that night carefully back over it.

Hilde had tried to convince me to braid it into my hair rather than drape it around my neck. I told her that if the ceremony wore on too long, I wanted to have a back up to hang myself with – wasn't sure if my neck tie would do the trick.

Having lost myself in my thoughts again, I realize that my hand has come up to loosen the one that I'm currently wearing. I've honestly never been fond of these things, but in order to look more professional since I'm allowed to keep my overly long hair, I opted to put a noose around my neck everyday.

Tugging the offensive accessory off with slightly more force than necessary, I glare at the oversized, warped excuse for a ribbon before throwing it in the laundry basket for dark clothes. No point in staying in uniform, though I don't own much else – kind of outgrew a lot of clothes. Shrugging to no one but myself, I find enough satisfaction in just undoing the top two buttons of my short-sleeve, dress shirt for now.

Leaving my bag to unpack later, I pad back out to the kitchen to take stock in what I might be able to not completely destroy for lunch. I admit that I'm always eating out or grabbing something from the cafeteria. Cooking was never really on my list of priorities since I don't eat much to begin with – I figure as long as I can zap it in the microwave, boil it, or eat it cold, I'm good.

Crap…looks like I'm going to have to consider actually shopping for groceries as well. Glancing over at the few cookbooks Heero has collected, I give up on the idea of lunch for a moment. Maybe learning to prepare actual meals is a good idea because instant ramen isn't appealing to me right now. Wonder when I got so picky.

Flipping through the books, I try to look for what looks like the easiest things to make, jotting down ideas on a notepad next to the refrigerator. With the blow to my self-esteem I took earlier today, I wonder how bad I can screw even the simplest of recipes up. Looking over the list I created, I pick one that I can try tomorrow and make out a grocery list, grabbing a nutrition bar to snack on to curb my hunger.

With that done, I wander around trying to find something, anything…well, almost anything…to distract myself with. My eyes fall on a mostly forgotten video game console. Entertainment is entertainment, and from what I hear, that'll beat daytime TV hands down.

Pulling out a game that I've played off and on since I moved here five years ago, I find that I'm also pulling at my collar. While the annoyingly long RPG loads, I set about opening up windows to let in the late spring air and hopefully cool this place off a bit.

Somehow I find it annoying that it is late spring, nearly summer and not a cloud in the sky. Never really bothered to keep track of the seasons, just the weather. Barely keep track of the months, but I'm into celebrating people's birthdays…as long as it isn't my own.

Just seems wrong for the amount of shit I've gotten myself into now. The least it should be doing is down pouring, but I'm used to nothing ever going my way.

Shaking my head, I wonder how I ever got to the point of sounding like the whiny, bratty kid that I do now as I sit down and grab the controller for the game. Maybe it is time to find out what else I'm good at. Definitely time that I made decent progress in this game also, I decide as I lose myself in the game.

---

Die, you ugly-ass bastard! I mentally cheer as another God-forsaken creature disappears in a swirl of little iridescent lights. Okay, now where…

There's a loud banging followed by one irate Chinese man's yell, "Dammit, Maxwell! I know you're in there!"

Hitting pause before I drop the controller like it's a hot potato, I run for the door. Pissing Wufei off is bad. Yanking the door open, I bow and apologize, "Sorry, Wufei. Guess I got engrossed in what I was doing." Looking up, Quatre and Trowa stand not far behind him. "Um, hi guys, what brings you Earth-side?" I ask as I open the door to allow them in and glance at the time. I managed to waste about six hours on a video game. I don't think that's something to be proud of considering I would've wasted more until my need to find food or sleep made itself known. Though now that I think about it, I am hungry…especially as Trowa walks by carrying a couple of pizzas.

The green-eyed man pauses as Chang makes a comment, "You haven't finished that game yet, Maxwell? You've been playing it for about five years."

"That's a good game…very long though. Hope you're leveling up your characters early." With that said, the tall, soft-spoken man continues with supper into the dining room/kitchen area.

"Um, yeah, what Tro said – long game…that and leveling up characters takes forever," I throw back feebly, following Quatre, who is carrying a couple bottles of soda while contemplating the fact that Barton is a closet gamer.

The blonde Arabian comments as he unloads his burden, "I hope you don't mind us dropping in like this. Wufei said you probably didn't have anything to eat in the house besides nutrition bars and instant ramen."

Chang never turned around to retort as he pulled glasses and plates out of the cupboards, as if he was more of a resident in this apartment than I was, "Barton was the one that wanted pizza, and you were the one that wanted to feed Maxwell."

"Well, I didn't want Duo to starve," the head of the Winner Corporation reasoned, helping his partner set the table once my first floor neighbor brings the dishware.

There's just something wrong about the fact that I'm not doing anything besides standing here and watching the others go about as if I was the guest.

"I don't think it is possible for Maxwell to starve since the cafeteria food is inedible. I'm still not sure how he can eat that poison and still be standing," the former Gundam pilot of Shenlong and Altron tosses back.

Taking a seat after the others, I find myself out of the conversation and I need to get a hold of it damn fast if I want to try to get information out of these guys. "Gee, Chang, I feel so loved. The food isn't that bad – you just have to know what to get."

"Bite me, Maxwell."

I grin widely – hook, line, and sinker, "Name where, and you know I will."

Quatre chokes on a slice of pizza while Trowa tries to hide a smile. Wufei growls at me, "You're twisted, Maxwell."

Snagging a slice of pizza, I continue our sparring, "Next time don't talk about me like I'm not here." I have to keep up appearances that nothing is wrong with the world. These guys are going to be extraordinarily hard to fool. I'm thankful that Yuy isn't here – he is almost impossible to fool.

"Sorry about that, Duo. I guess we got carried away," the blonde manages to choke out after he manages to swallow what I nearly involuntarily killed him with.

I shrug, pulling Quatre into the web or words I have begun weaving. Nonchalantly I comment, "Q, you never did tell me what brought you away from L4," and then take a bite out of the slice dangling in my hand. It's all about leading them with both words and actions to get them to tell you what you want. I got good with cracking the hard ones when we have to do interrogations.

"Une called last minute for us." I turn to look at Barton who had responded instead. His eyes try to pierce me. So I'm bending those unspoken house rules that I mentioned earlier a bit. It isn't an interrogation, just information collecting. Yeah, your reasoning is as pathetic as always, Maxwell.

Trying to cover lost ground, I slide past his blunt, verbal roadblock, "Heh, when she says jump… Did you fly commercially or take your own shuttle?"

Feeling black eyes on me, a voice quickly jibes, "When was the last time you took a commercial flight? I think that should have been a fairly easy assumption." Crap, bad move, now he's onto me.

Shrugging in response, I admit, "Well, I'm paranoid, but who knows about the rest of you."

In my peripheral vision, I can see the blonde shaking his head, "Dammit, Duo, I hate it when you do that." I guess I've got an innate ability to confuse even empaths. At this point, I won't even look at him – the whole eyes are the window to your soul thing still hangs with me. When you've got a roommate that for the most part expresses himself through his eyes, you learn how much information you can get without words, so you learn to be damn careful.

Going back to my food, I silently apologize for slightly turning my skills on them.

"How come you're still in uniform?" Trowa asks quietly, breaking the awkward silence.

My head snaps up to look at him straight across the table.

To my right, Wufei smirks obnoxiously, "To be honest, this is the first time I've seen you close to out of uniform in probably two years." He points at my missing tie and unbuttoned collar with one hand while bringing a slice of pizza up to his mouth with another.

I grumble at him, "Dickhead."

"Fuck you too." The Chinese man is smiling, knowing how infantile it sounds, but playing the foolish game none-the-less.

"Oh, Wufei, I didn't know you fantasized about me." I grin from ear to ear. If nothing else, he can pull me out of a funk temporarily.

The glare he gives me is intense, but I've weathered far worse. "Get your mind out of the damn gutter, Maxwell."

Opening my mouth to retort that he started it, my attention turns to follow a sound that came from my left where a small blonde man is in tears from laughing so hard. Noticing he has become the center of attention, though his silent companion is calmly eating his food while trying his hardest to ignore us, the head of the Winner Corporation asks, "Is this common for you two?"

Shrugging, I answer first, "Yeah, pretty much. Sure as hell can't get banter like this with Heero."

"Speaking of Heero," Trowa breaks his silence, "When is he due back?"

Swallowing the sudden lump in my throat at the thought of what is going to happen when he returns, I know I just showed one of my cards, but I'm not sure if anyone saw it. "Thirteen days," I notice Wufei raising an eyebrow at how readily I had that information, "Hey, I've got to restock around here before he gets back."

Apparently my reasoning is again falling short of credibility with the Chinese man, "If that grocery list on the counter is any indication, you're going to be restocking sooner than that."

In an attempt to regain lost ground again, I counter, "Figured I'd try cooking for once – a man can't live on take-out forever." Though for the past five years, I've been trying to prove that theory wrong.

"Hell's frozen over," a green eye turns it's attention to Wufei, apparently an inside joke.

The blonde Arabian beams, "Please make enough for four then. I've got to try this. What were you planning on making?"

The discussion goes into what food I should prepare as the meal on the table disappears. We banter lightly about the differences between cooking food and cooking explosives. Now cooking explosives I've got down to an art. Cooking food I always seem to mess up somehow, but that may be because I've held onto my notions for preparing explosives.

As the inane chatter continues, I set my mouth on autopilot and return to the shadows of my mind to lick my wounds. I know what my friends here are trying to do, but I'd honestly rather be alone. It was my judgment call and I fucked it up beyond fucked up. Now I've just got to pay for the consequences, which looks like losing my job, being deemed insane, and getting kicked out of the apartment at least…maybe Wufei will take pity on me and let me live in the garage until I find my own place.

Don't get me wrong, insane can be fun, but we're talking about the extra-long sleeve white jacket and a padded room type of insane…that's not such a fun version.

"Dammit, Maxwell!" Hands slam on the table to further punctuate the curse. I blink and quickly check my mental recordings to catch up on the conversation, not noticing anything to explain the exclamation. "Stop taking off mentally and leaving your mouth running."

I laugh lightly and shrug at being caught red handed. "Sorry, man."

"You have the ability to do things that disturb me sometimes…" He runs a hand over his tightly pulled back hair.

Trowa's unibang shifts direction as he turned his head to look at the Chinese man, "We should be going."

Quatre smiled disarmingly, "I think we've imposed on you enough for one night. I hope you don't mind us dropping in like this." Another words, they've gather all they're about to gather in terms of information from me for tonight.

"Q, you know that you and Tro are always welcome to drop by. Besides, I can't complain since I got free food out of this." My expression matches his as I stand up, "I'll clean this up, you guys head on out – you've got to be tired having flown from L4 with little notice."

Saying polite farewells, and other words of friendship, I finally regain the apartment to myself for at least a short period of time again. Setting about the cleaning I offered to do, I find my attention focusing on the mindless tasks if only to avoid thoughts of my current situation. It's almost like strange type of meditation, allowing me to regain some sort of balance with myself.

Finishing with that task, I find myself staring at the game that held my interest for six hours without any energy to bother continuing to play now. It takes me a few minutes to save the game since the nearest save point is in the middle of nowhere, and I flip through the channels, knowing that nothing is on, but looking never-the-less. I could go down and use the mini-gym we built in the basement, but I don't want to disturb them beating the shit out of the punching bag as well as myself.

Leaving it on some remotely interesting martial arts action flick, I sink further into the recliner and stretch my legs out. Maybe Chang was right – maybe there is something else out there that I'm good at…I just need to find it. Just what though? My whole life, I've been getting my ass kicked by Father Maxwell's God and serving the God of Death…I really don't know anything else.

I jump at the sound of a gun going off and immediately hit the floor…until I realize I had dozed off in front of the television and feel like a complete moron.

Standing up slowly, I think about how ingrained my reactions are and wonder if there is really anything else out there for me. The thought follows me as I turn off the old western that was playing and head towards the room I have claimed as my space. Might as well get some sleep in attempt to not disrupt the cycle I have.

I've always been fond of the darkness, even before I got into this routine of moving about in the dark as to not disturb my housemates – especially my roommate. Well, apartment-mate, but that just sounds stupid. Of course I'm stupid so you'd expect something like that from me.

Amazing how I can turn things around on myself. That's probably why enemies couldn't get to me – I have always done worse to myself. The only one that ever really got to me was Heero after he stole parts off of Deathscythe. That pissed me off to no end, but eventually I became enchanted by the one guy that seemed like he could keep pace with me…until I realized that I was way out of my league. Though that didn't seem to stop me from continuing to challenge him and try to learn as much as I could.

Still not sure why he agreed to let me share the apartment with him…maybe he felt bad for Wufei because otherwise he'd be stuck with me instead most likely. Hey, I never said I pretended to know what went on behind those blue eyes. I've tried to find out, but if you think I can hide things, Yuy's got his welded shut in a gundanium box.

Crawling into bed after having changed up, I'm mentally berating myself for thinking about the Japanese man at a time like this. With the situation I've gotten myself into…this guy demands perfection without saying a word and apparently I can only keep it for so long before I manage to screw things up again. Just wondering if I can recover from this before he comes back. With less than two weeks left before Heero returns, I'm going to say that the odds are against me – especially with the psychological evaluations Une is ordering. Needless to say, I know what is involved with them since I've had to have others go through it in the department and there's a lot more involved than just talking to a shrink. The higher you are and if you're in Special Ops or anything closely related, there's a whole battery of tests you have to go through when someone requests a psych eval. I've hated having to do it, but when it comes to fieldwork, I can't have a loose cannon out there armed and more dangerous than normal.

Apparently I'm the loose cannon now. My how the tables have turned. Then again, I never claimed to be the sane one of the bunch.

Damn, this is so not good. Eventually I fall asleep with thoughts of mad scientists poking at my head.  
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Fin  
by JeiC  
June 2006


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I really should just make one catch-all disclaimer and use it all the time, but alas, I write a new one every time. So it's gonna be the same old I don't own Gundam Wing, but I did write this story so please keep my name on it if you're gonna pass it along.  
Author's Notes: Not much to say other than this has been a long time project (mostly 'cause I kept going back to rewrite it because I wasn't happy with it) of mine that just stemmed from a picture I once saw of Duo sitting in a window watching the rain outside. If you're looking to listen to the song that inspired this fic, "Away From Me" by Evanescence, it is on the Origin album.  
And yes, this is a multi-part story…I'm probably going to keep to one chapter equals one day since while I had initially wanted to write this as a one shot and as a songfic, I thought these changes suited it better.  
Warnings: angst, language, yaoi implications

**Away From Me  
****Chapter 2**

by JeiC  
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_I hide behind a smile as this perfect plan unfolds  
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_Though my alarm clock once again slumbers as I wake up before it does and try to keep the silence by turning it off. It's still very early yet for someone who has nowhere to go and nothing to do today, I note, padding quietly to the bathroom.

Actually, it's very early normally since I don't even hear the boys downstairs roaming around yet. But then one would be required to define normal, and amongst our little group, I would be the undesirable variable.

No big deal really…I'm used to that kind of thing.

Grabbing a towel on my way, I shake it out before hanging it temporarily over the towel rack and turn the water on. I've been spoiled these past few years – a warm place to sleep, hot water to bathe, my own semi-secure little corner…it's too much for a former street rat to dream about let alone have.

Unweaving my braid, I let the long loose waves brush against my bare back, and once again wonder why I bother to keep it. Sometimes it's such a pain in the ass to take care of, but I think people would freak out and keel over if I ever cut it short like Wufei's, never mind like the other three guys.

Stepping into the hot spray, I momentarily let my dark thoughts evaporate with the steam. Some days I wish the water would finally wash away all the blood that I've managed to spill on me, but I know better than to ever begin to hope that would ever happen.

I've been damned to hell since before I was born so why should a little blood bother me, right?

Sneering at nothing, I violently grab my bottle of shampoo, less than pleased at my dark thoughts coming back when I tried to let them go for a small period of time. I need sanctuary from myself.

Heero is my curse. Well, right now anyway. With him not being here, I don't have anyone that can really talk with me on a level that just works for me, but at the same time, it's a mixed blessing that he isn't here since I'd be packing my bags most likely by now. Twelve days left…unless something changes.

I could pack up and leave if it wasn't for two things: that damn psychological evaluation and the fact that if I leave before my roommate passes judgment, I'll be forever looking over my shoulder.

Maybe when it really comes down to it, I just need to somehow be able to get away from myself. Not really fair of me to be piling that responsibility on the person that I consider closer to me than my best friend, though I highly doubt that particular sentiment is mutual.

Those kinds of thoughts I keep to myself and under lock and key. I tried even denying them to myself, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet.

Shutting the water off, I grab a towel and finish with my normal morning routine.

After wandering back to my room for a pair of jeans that have since had the legs cut off about mid-calf, I keep half trying to towel my hair dry as I debate what to have for breakfast. Knowing that I have nowhere to go and really not much to do today, I've slowed down to a leisurely pace despite having my mind set on keeping just as busy as if I was going to work. Guess my body wants to take advantage of the downtime…that traitor.

It takes a moment to realize that someone is knocking on the door. I wonder if this is going to become a common occurrence or if it'll drop off in a few days. While still absently patting at the water that my hair keeps depositing on my neck, I open the door.

"Hi Duo…oh, sorry, guess I caught you at a bad time…" Quatre laughs lightly, with red creeping into his cheeks. Weird kid.

Shrugging, I respond, "Not really. So what brings you up here at this hour of the morning?" At the same time, I take note of his basic Preventers uniform attire – the only thing he's missing is his jacket and boots, though one might mistake it for casual wear since he opts usually for the cream colored t-shirt.

Seeming to snap out of a trance that I didn't even realize he had slipped into, his smile is broad and has me worried. "Oh, Wufei wanted to know if you wanted to come down for breakfast."

Free food, and man can Chang cook. "Sure, Q. Let me grab a shirt and I'll be down there in a minute." Noting his look of disappointment as I begin to turn away, I decide to finally take a crack at his schoolgirl behavior, "You might want to wipe the drool off your chin off there, kiddo – Tro's going to start wondering what went on between the two of us."

I leave the door open with him gaping and the biggest shit-eating grin I've had on my face in a long time. "Duo!" I hear moments after I enter my domain to grab the shirt I promised and shoving a hair elastic in my pocket. I forgot how much fun it was to get the blonde Arabian going, but as much as I tease him, I know he's devoted completely to his tall, rather silent companion even though he absolutely no qualms about openly looking at other people.

By the time I reach him again, I have the black t-shirt on and am pulling my damp, unbound hair out from underneath it. Grabbing my keys, I'm out the door waiting for him to lead the way…mostly because the head of the Winner Corporation is in my way than any other reason.

My attention turns from the lock to him when he picks at the sleeve of my shirt, "I hope you realize that this shirt leaves little to the imagination." This causes me to look down at what I absently grabbed.

"Yeah, yeah, I need some new clothes." I usher him along – the smells from Chang's kitchen is making me hungry enough to slip past him, though not enough that I don't hear his comment about disagreeing with my statement. Well, if nothing else, Quatre is starting his day off in a good mood, though I never understood his fascination with me in that sense – I'm still as scrawny as ever.

I knock quickly before I enter, not bothering to wait…well, not with Winner right behind me anyway. "Damn, Wufei, I can smell that upstairs." I come up directly behind him and peer over his shoulder. Reaching for a piece of kielbasa, I get my hand smacked by a plastic spatula.

"Most people say 'Good Morning,' Maxwell. Go sit down. Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes." The Chinese man's voice is monotone, but his smirk gives away the humor behind the statements.

Rubbing my wounded hand, I slowly head back towards the table, "You know I'm not most people." This also affords me the opportunity to check out his place a bit. Hey, it has been a very long time since I've been down here. Finally taking a seat, I watch Quatre whisper something in Trowa's ear and I raise an eyebrow at the emerald-eyed man who is simply nodding to whatever it is the blonde is telling him.

The only response I get from him is this really creepy smirk. I think Q has converted him to the dark side. Dark side of what, I couldn't tell you, but to get a look like that…well, I'll leave that assessment up to each person individually.

I shift uncomfortably for a moment realizing that I really do need some new clothes – this shirt is a bit tight around the shoulders and chest.

I feel kind of guilty mooching off Wufei like this, and I can't even offer to set the table since someone has already done it.

"Maxwell, stop fidgeting," Chang scolds me as he brings over plates of food. I look up at him and follow the direction of his eyes to Quatre and Trowa who seem quite content watching me.

"Sorry, guess I'm just feeling weird being in civvies while the rest of you are already in uniform." It is a truth, but not one that I had consciously acknowledged until now. I shift again, feeling the wet spot move on the back of my shirt from my slowly drying hair. Civvies and unbound hair – this has to be weirding them out as well.

"I see no problem with it," Barton quietly comments from my left and I look at him, seeing amusement in those emerald orbs.

Turning my attention to his partner directly across from me, I make a fairly good assessment of what's going on here, "You converted him, didn't you, Q?"

"UGH!" Chang makes a disgusted face, "Can we not have this discussion over breakfast?"

Even though sometimes we can get him in on the fun he does draw the line in certain circumstances – breakfast being one of them. Trowa was never really in on it before, well, not that I can remember, but he'd put up with our rather ambiguous sounding conversations. Granted, it has been a long time since we've gotten together and gotten this particular type of game going.

The remainder of breakfast continues a lot more innocently and goes a lot more quickly than last night since they have to be heading off to HQ. If it weren't for the fact that we are all extremely early risers, I'd have been left to myself to fend for food, which hadn't been looking good up until Winner knocked on my door.

Trudging back upstairs as soon as the trio leaves, the first thing I do is find another shirt to wear. For all the joking about it, I guess I never quite got past actually being self-conscious about my appearance. The outgoing jester to mask my shyness and my shame – I already said I was a walking contradiction, didn't I? Maybe not, but I am.

Grabbing my list, keys, wallet, phone, and shoving on sneakers that while are probably three or four years old, still feel and look brand new, I'm out the door. I'd wear the sneakers that I use to jog in, but those have definitely seen better days. At least I feel a little better with the baggy t-shirt I managed to dig up, though the black has faded, I can deal with the band shirt Quatre had talked me into getting at the concert we went to long before I joined up with the Preventers.

Before I know it, I'm in my Jeep and cruising through the center of town – it's still rush hour so traffic is a bit thick, though nothing like what I encounter on the highways. All things considering, it doesn't take me too long to get to the grocery store where I find myself staring with disdain at the shopping carts. There's no way I can carry everything in a hand basket, but…I feel like such an idiot pushing one around. Not in a sexist way…it's just that I don't feel like I belong here – I know squat about cooking so why would I have a reason to come into a place that sells food that you have to prepare yourself outside for odds and ends items like fresh fruit or some sandwich meat or something like that.

Speaking of…I add those two items to my list. They would be nice to have to fall back on incase my attempts at cooking fail me again. Moving to the side out of the way of no one, I try and think of what else would be a good idea for me to pick up while I'm here so I don't have to make another trip too soon.

Trying to make my experience here as quick as possible, I move quickly through the store, trying to swallow the fear that has me looking over my shoulder every so often. Thankfully, there aren't too many people here right now. It seems as if the senior citizens and stay-at-home parents haven't ventured out yet – just a few first-shift workers quickly running in here to grab something for lunch.

At the checkout, I encounter the first person that I actually have to interact with. The boy doesn't even raise an eyebrow at me, though I'm pretty sure that someone my age at this time of the day would've gotten a weird look or two by now. Then I notice that he's staring at my chest in which he promptly realizes that he's been caught. "Sorry about that," his name tag reads Mike, "Strata is awesome – I've just never seen that shirt before."

Mike's comments make me think back about the concert. That girl on lead vocals was pretty amazing – she definitely knew how to put on a show considering that she had been bouncing between different instruments before her band was set to play, dragging her into the spotlight whereas the other bands kept her in the background seemingly as to simply assist them. "Yeah, it was quite the concert."

"Oh, wait, I saw that concert on TV – Renee had been filling in on various instruments for other bands before they came on. She is one very talented woman. I knew she wrote and composed her music by herself, but when I saw her do that, especially on the turntables, man, I had a whole new appreciation for their, well, specifically her music." The cashier paused for a moment when he went to weigh my fruit before changing topics completely, "You go to…?" Mike thumbed over his shoulder in the general direction of the college in this town, though he never broke in his rhythm of ringing up and bagging the items.

"No," though I might consider looking into it, my mind added. It would give me something to do and new skills to find a new career with…if that's possible. Guess that answers the lack of weird looks – some college students actually get up before noon.

"New to the area?" What is with this kid? Well, he's friendly, I'll give him that, and I'm not getting that foreboding sense from him. He's just a kid who happens to like the band that's labeled on my shirt.

I laugh lightly, "Not really. I've lived here for a few years, but I've hardly seen the inside of my apartment due to work." I dig out some cash when he tells me the total.

Handing him the money, he comments, "Man, that sucks. Well, hope to see you around more," he finishes by putting the last bag up on the counter so I can subsequently put it into the evil cart that I've been pushing around. Finishing my transaction, I smile at him and head out of there.

It doesn't take me long to get myself and my groceries back into my truck and get back on the road. It's a decent enough day, I could go out for a run later this afternoon. The anxiety of being in a mostly unknown place is getting to me. I think I'll use my run for recon of my neighborhood.

After going through my normal ritual for entering the apartment, I then set about putting away my recent purchase. If nothing else, at least I don't have to worry about finances for awhile – I have quite a bit stashed away…some of it from hacked OZ and Alliance accounts, some from the scrap yard, and the rest from my Preventer salary. Well, can't spend much if I'm always at work. Now I guess I better start really looking at what I have. If Heero were here, he could help me figure this out…

…but Heero isn't here and Heero isn't going to want to talk to me when he finds out what happened. Dammit, Yuy! You drive me absolutely up a wall when you're not even here.

Bouncing around momentarily after finishing my self-appointed task, I look around trying to find something to do. Tugging on my braid while I debated that, I jump when the doorbell rings. Completely lost as to who would bother ringing the doorbell, I make my way downstairs – gun tucked at the small of my back. We don't get visitors that we don't know are coming, Quatre and Trowa aside – they're welcome here as if they lived here. Besides, they have keys to get in – they wouldn't have to bother with this doorbell shit.

Peering out the peephole, I can make out a Preventers jacket, but the idiot is standing too close to the door to tell much else. Opening the door quickly to make them jump, I plaster on my best smile for the woman standing outside my door, though I'm a bit miffed that she's taller than I am. "Can I help you?"

Putting a hand to her chest as if to get her heart to stop racing. "I'm so sorry, you scared me. Are you Duo Maxwell?" I raise an eyebrow at her and she continues, "Lady Une sent me. I had tried to call earlier, but I guess no one was home." She shrugged sheepishly and then held her hand out. "My name is Nora Reilly."

I shake her hand and respond, "Duo Maxwell. You'll have to forgive my attire – I wasn't expecting guests." Being a perfect gentleman, I step aside to allow her entrance, closing the door behind her before taking the lead back to the apartment, making sure that she doesn't notice my gun. Me, paranoid? You must be joking.

The tall brunette laughs lightly, "That's quite alright. I wasn't expecting to be coming out here either, but you know how it is…"

I'm still not sure who she is outside of a name and why she's here so I keep it pretty general, "She didn't make it to top brass in the Preventers for nothing." I laugh lightly hoping that this Nora Reilly tells me something else about herself that is actually useful. Opening the door to the apartment I allow her entrance first and signal for her to have a seat somewhere in the living room. "Would you like something to drink? Water? Juice? Soda?"

Dark brown, nearly black eyes light up at the notion, and enthusiastically replies as the Preventers official takes a seat on the couch, "Water would be wonderful!" Whoa…perky. Well, probably more nervous since she's fidgeting. Doesn't look like she's going to play nice about telling me why she's here.

Getting water for both of us, I take a moment in the solitude of the kitchen to disarm myself. I tuck the safety-locked gun in a cabinet and make a mental note to put it away properly later. I venture back out to the living room and place one glass in front of my unexpected and uninvited guest on the coffee table, while taking the other to sit in the recliner as much as opposite her as I can get. "So, what brings you out to the middle of nowhere?"

Taking a sip, the brunette with hair nearly as long as mine put the glass down before speaking, "Under Lady Une's orders, I am to act as both your advocate and your psychological evaluator. I had tried calling earlier as I had said before. She requested that I come to you rather than having you come to headquarters for privacy reasons. Also, the evaluation is going to be quite different than what you're used to us having to do for Special Ops agents." Her pen is going as she is speaking, writing down something on the legal pad she has.

My mask is in place, but I have a feeling that her behavior earlier was as much of an act as my mask is hiding the real me from her. "Ah, I see. I guess you hadn't tried calling my mobile phone, but sorry about that – I needed to get groceries this morning."

Reilly laughs, "Yeah, that was the only number I had for some reason, but I understand the necessity of grocery shopping. I suppose with the amount of hours that you put in, you really don't keep much in stock here."

Yep, this one is going to be tough. "The cafeteria food often beats my attempts at cooking," I joke, knowing the shrink took it the right way when she made a face of disgust.

"Your cooking can't be that bad…" This might be an interesting game yet to play. I think I'll throw her a bone.

Shrugging, I conclude, "Not sure, you'll have to ask the guys downstairs later since they're having me cook for them tonight." Cutting her off before she can follow this thread further, I question, "If you don't mind my asking, what is going to be the difference between my psychological evaluation and the normal procedure for one?"

My advocate sighs, closes her eyes for a moment and her pen stills. After her moment to collect her thoughts is over, she looks back at me, "Sorry, I'm still trying to process the request myself since I got it late last night, and don't take this the wrong way, but that battery of tests that we normally do won't work for someone with skills such as yourself. It is basically going to be a trial and error thing mostly so this could take a very short period of time or it could take a long period of time." Rubbing the bridge of her nose with the back of her pen momentarily, Reilly continues, "I'm mostly here today to learn a little bit about you, Agent Maxwell, so I can get an idea on where to begin."

"Duo is fine," I shake my head a bit think about how odd the formal title sounds, "I never did get use to hearing myself get called that. Might as well get this started so I can get back to work. So what would you like to know about little ol' me, Agent Reilly?" I smirk, hoping to hell that the shrink isn't going to make me go through my whole past just to figure out that I have nothing better to do with my life than work with the Preventers.

"Then, please, I'd honestly rather Nora." Taking another sip of water, she continues, "Well, there's enough in your record that I can get a pretty good idea of your past and to be honest, I don't think that's going to matter here. What matters is what has been happening since you've joined the Preventers – more so within the past couple of years. While I can get information from your file, it doesn't tell me who you are as a person."

If nothing else, Nora is brutally honest. Now I can see why Une chose her personally – she's as good at getting information out of people as I am, and she doesn't seem to mind disposing with the formalities. She's got to do her job and I've got to get back to mine. "Well then, lets get this show started." I'll play…until I'm given a reason not to.

Our conversation goes on until about mid-afternoon, though at lunchtime, I took pity on her and offered the poor woman a sandwich to eat. Just because Une stuck the shrink on me at my own apartment doesn't mean I have to be rude to the poor woman. Well, okay, it's Heero's apartment, but you get the idea.

"Is 10 o'clock Monday morning good for you again?" Reilly asks, standing up to put her stuff away – I stand with her.

"Works for me," I chime back cheerfully.

"Again, sorry for dropping by unexpectedly – I wanted to catch you before the weekend so I can help you work through this quickly. Do you think I can get your mobile number incase I need to reach you?" Her sheepishness from earlier is back. I think I have a better idea about her now, but we'll see what tomorrow holds.

I give her a one-minute sign and lightly jog to my room to quickly get one of my business cards. Getting back to where I left her, I hand her the card, "Beats having to write it down."

Laughing lightly, she accepts the card. "For some reason I always manage to keep a hold of business cards, but lose numbers I write down if I don't get them into my contact book right away. Sounds kind of weird, huh?" Holding out her hand, not really expecting a reply from me, I take her hand and shake it firmly – I don't joke around, but I have to admit, she hasn't been one of the typical shrinks I've had to deal with. "Oh, do you like video games, Duo?"

Following her line of site, I glance back at the game console that wasn't quite put fully away last night. "I play a little. Not very good to be honest with you."

"What kind of games do you like?"

Eh? "Um…pretty much either role-playing or music simulation games mostly, but I'm not opposed to other games."

"Really?" She puts her hands on her hips and looks at the discarded console with interest. "Well, I guess it makes sense to want to play games that aren't related to work. Geez, if there were games about psychology, I think I'd avoid them. It's that separation of work and play thing, though I have to admit, I would be curious to see a game like that."

"Scary thing is…there is probably one out there." I laugh as she shudders at the thought.

"Psychologically analyzing a computer simulation – I don't think my degree covers that," her attention comes fully back to me, "Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Duo. Sorry I took up so much of your time. I'll see you tomorrow."

Opening the door for the nice lady, I smile back, hoping that if things continue smoothly, this'll all blow over soon. "The honor was all mine. I'll see you on Monday."

Finishing our formalities, I walk her out the door to the house. When I get back upstairs, I let out the breath I had been holding the whole time. Une isn't fucking around. Maybe I really should have just told her that I have nothing better to do with my life other than work.

Nora isn't bad…not what I was expecting either. I'm somewhat glad that she decided to forego digging into my past. I can handle talking about what I do as a Preventer. That's pretty much all I did – basically summarized my time with the organization and how I've lived during that time.

I really couldn't lie even if I wanted to – my record speaks for itself. Though the way she methodically directed my train of thought, she damn well knew what she was doing, and today was a harmless little introduction so I played along like a good boy. It gave her a place to try and begin and gave me an idea of what is to come.

Turning my computer on, I float around on the Preventer network until I come across the file on Nora Reilly – it's only fair that I get to know the person who is either going to help me or hurt me the same way she got to know me. Granted, this is going to be a lot less informative than the physical files, but it gives me a start.

Of course, no one knows I'm there. They just think I'm part of the normal, everyday traffic that is coming into the network. What can I say…I learned a few tricks from Heero.

That and I can't help break the rules every once in awhile.

Mentally taking note of important information, I float myself back out with that network traffic, leaving everything just as it was…as if I was never there. I go to sit back to really digest the information when I notice the time…spent a little longer in there than I thought I had. I'm slipping.

Of course I haven't had Heero around to work on my hacking skills with. I close my eyes and try to force thoughts of his imminent return away from my mind. I need to get started if I want to have supper ready on time.

Dragging myself to the kitchen to begin my latest disaster, I mentally start praying to any deity that isn't pissed off at me to let this go smoothly. As I start, I keep in mind that this isn't like cooking explosives and try to remember all the tips the guys gave me at dinner last night.

Pausing after I get the book open and the ingredients out, I turn on the stereo that we keep in the kitchen. Most of the time it's set to a news radio station, but scoot back to my room and grab a music disc. Looking down at my shirt, I figure Strata sounds good right about now – it'll suit my mood.

As the haunted sounds of the first song begin, I set about attempting to make supper. The guys should be back soon.

Finding it not to be too difficult, I pull the skillet off the burner and put it on another one that I hadn't used to just get it off the heat. At the same time, I hear a car pull up – sounds like Chang and Winner are in a heated discussion about something. Whatever it is, it really has the Chinese man going.

Shrugging to myself, I don't bother to turn the music off to listen to them as I set the table. At least this time I don't feel out of place in the apartment. Though, thankfully they're running a little later than normal – I wonder why.

A few minutes later, there's a knock on the door – rushing to get it, I hit the button to stop the music on my way. "Hey, Trowa! Where's Quatre and Wufei?" I look around the taller man to see if they're hiding behind the acrobat. I also take notice at the same time he's changed into civvies.

"Downstairs arguing." I step aside to allow him in. "They should be up soon."

"Well, something resembling food is ready if you're hungry…or suicidal – not sure yet," I laugh at my own stupid joke. "So, should I ask what they are arguing about?"

One word drifts back to me as he heads towards the kitchen/dining room, "No."

Shrugging, I close the door, but only make it part way when it stops short and I hear a squeak from the other side. "Oh, sorry, Q – didn't see you there."

"Please tell me you have food." His eyes are pleading with me like he's been starving all day and will start nawing on me if I tell him no.

"Yeah, I just finished."

"Yes!" the blonde quickly follows in Barton's path.

I look at Wufei with a raised eyebrow. Shaking his head, he explains as he passes by me, "He hasn't eaten all day since the cafeteria was producing even less edible food than normal. Actually, none of us have since we didn't get a chance to make a lunch run."

"There's a lot going on at HQ?" Dammit…why did this have to happen now!

"No, you take on enough work for five people. Sometimes I wonder how you do it." We walk in the wake of Quatre to find him sitting at the table with a fork in one hand and a knife in the other, with a napkin tucked in as a bib.

I can't help but laugh at the image he makes, and seemingly neither can Wufei, though Trowa is trying not to. "Um…Q, I don't know if this is going to be any more edible than the cafeteria."

"Dirt is more edible than what they were serving, now feed me." Whoa! I quickly find a serving spoon and bring the pasta and meat monstrosity, skillet and all to the table, putting it in the center on the hot plate I had actually remembered to put down earlier.

"Actually," Barton comments while his partner serves himself, "He really has been looking forward to this since last night."

"Shit!" We all turn to look at the blonde who is covering his mouth, "Um…sorry. This is just really good. Infinitely better than what they try to pass off as food in the cafeteria. You can never say your cooking is poor again."

After handing off the serving spoon to Wufei, Trowa takes that as a sign that it's safe and nods in approval.

I release the breath that I didn't realize I was holding after the last approval, though I'm somewhat surprised they didn't have me test it first. It's a little boost to my ego, but cooking for friends isn't going to get me back on the job.

Finally taking a seat after serving myself, I feel an intent gaze upon me. "You're making supper tomorrow, right?" Quatre looks at me with hopeful eyes.

"Um…" I wasn't planning on it doesn't make it out of my mouth.

"How about you cook tomorrow, Winner?" Wufei challenges, "Barton bought yesterday, I made breakfast, and Maxwell cooked dinner – I think it's your turn."

The L4 businessman sighs in defeat, "Oh, fine. Guess I'll come up with something."

"Hey…" I finally math it all out, "Shouldn't he make breakfast tomorrow?"

"Quatre sleeps in on the weekends – there's no point in making breakfast," Trowa notes quietly while said blonde has a mouthful of food. The glare the emerald-eyed man gets from his partner is classic.

Completely ignoring the scene, I inquire, trying to bait for more information, "So, I take it you don't have to go in tomorrow."

Swallowing, Winner chimes in, "We're going in for a half day."

Tilting my head to the side, I wait to see if anyone is going to answer my unspoken question. I mean, it isn't uncommon for us to go in on a Saturday when there's a backlog of work, but I still want to know what is going on.

"No," a quiet voice across from me chides, the normally silent acrobat eyes me carefully, "You're on vacation."

I correct him, glaring straight at him, "I was removed from active duty."

"Duo…" my name is so softly spoken on my left that I nearly miss it. Turning my attention to the blonde, my anger sits on the edge of staying on his partner or turning on him. "I can understand you're angry about…"

"Damn straight I'm angry. You'd be too. To be honest, can we just drop this? I've already got one shrink to deal with." Sitting back in my chair, I cross my arms over my chest – my appetite lost.

Catching movement from my right, I barely catch Chang launching a piece of pasta across the table at the empath. Apparently, he didn't sense the flying food and it smacked him between the eyes. I'd like to give the Chinese man a gold star for accuracy, but I want to know what the hell possessed him to do it in the first place – he's starting to pick up on some of my bad habits.

No, I don't do it often enough to be a habit since Quatre is usually the target when he starts trying to play camp counselor.

"Hey!" I'm trying not to laugh at the expression on the blonde's face. It's one of those not only can he not believe he got hit with food again, but also who the person is that flung it at him.

Wufei shrugged, "Maxwell wasn't getting to it fast enough." The laugh I had been holding in finds its way out and even Trowa silently snickers at his partner. Chang is satisfied with a smug look on his face.

Well, that's one way to diffuse a situation, though I never thought Wufei would go anywhere near my immature antics. Holding out my hand to the Chinese man, I comment, "I don't think I could have done it better myself."

He looks at it in confusion for a moment before giving me the high-five I had been waiting for. "I have degraded myself enough for one night so anything else, you're on your own." Turning his attention to the blonde across from him, he continues, "I suggest we drop the previous discussion. I believe that Barton picked up a brain-rotting game for all of us to participate in later."

"It's an interesting game when played by adults," Trowa stated in his defense.

My curiosity gets the better of me, "What game?"

Quatre jumps on that. "It's Apples to Apples…you're going to really like it if you've never played it before. My sisters and I get together sometimes to play it."

"All thirty of you guys get together to play this?" That is one hell of a game – doesn't sound too impressive by the name though.

He laughs at my inquiry. "Sorry…it's just funny trying to picture all of us trying to play it. No, there's at most about a dozen or so – we try to do a little family get together every once in awhile and I forget who brought the game, but it kind of stuck as a tradition now. I think the maximum is supposed to be ten, but we've never had any issues with more people. Actually, I think it makes it more entertaining."

The conversation continues on about the game and the food slowly disappears, including what I had abandoned earlier on my plate as my appetite returns. When the meal winds down, I clear off the table as Quatre and Trowa run downstairs to get the game and I get started on washing the dishes.

I look at the skillet, somewhat amazed that they ate all of that, before I drop it into the water to soak, a presence comes up behind me. "Duo, that really was a good meal. Thank you." I eye him carefully as he picks up a dishrag to dry the dishes off and put them away. When he uses a first name, man does he have your attention fast.

"You don't have to do that."

"It is a way to show my gratitude and appreciation." I don't break stride in what I'm doing, but neither does he. "You know that Winner did not mean to offend you."

"Actually, I think Trowa started it," I finally note. "But I know what you mean. It's just…" the means to describe my thoughts escapes me. "I dunno…guess it just rubbed me the wrong way."

Chang just hums at me, apparently thinking about it. "Fortunately, the rumor mill has been quiet. They all really do believe that you're on vacation. Either that or they're too busy scrambling to pick up your caseload that they don't have time for their petty gossiping."

Picking up the skillet to start scrubbing, I voice my indecision, "Not sure if I should find that last part funny or start feeling guilty."

"Personally, I would laugh at them, finding this proper retribution for their continually slacking off. If they didn't, then you wouldn't have such a large caseload." A black eye slides in my direction. "Perhaps this will teach them to perform better in their training exercises."

"I don't know Wufei…I mean…" Upon hearing the apartment door open and close, I end my half of the conversation, putting the pan in the rack, though it only stays there a moment before Chang picks it up to dry.

Softly, and before the other two get anywhere near us, he reprimands, "If you even start thinking you were in the wrong, I will teach you otherwise in our next sparring match."

I can't help the smirk that makes its way onto my face. "Wufei, can't you just say that you'll kick my ass instead?"

"It's an overused phrase," he throws over his shoulder as he heads towards where it sounds like they've settled in the living room.

After sitting down, getting directions, and getting cards, we start to play. About the fifth round I start throwing weird ones out since that's about all I had. I first hit Quatre with one that had him double over laughing. Trowa shook his head at another that I threw out the next round. Wufei threatened to strangle me with my braid when I tossed another at him. Though, by that time, the blonde had joined me in occasionally tossing out off the wall cards.

We continued like that for a few hours until Quatre started yawning. "I think we should call it a night," Trowa suggested softly.

"You're probably right." Wufei began cleaning up the coffee table we all sat around. I can only imagine the picture we make – a bunch of grown men playing a silly word game with cards, sitting on the floor like a bunch of kids.

Well, I guess in a sense we're all overgrown kids – I think that only one of us has had what could be considered a somewhat "normal" childhood, though with the stories I've heard from the Maguanacs, Quatre wasn't always the optimistic guy he is now.

So in the end, we're all a little fucked in the head. Not that they talk much about their pasts, but from what I can make out, Heero has pretty much been an assassin since he could hold a gun, Trowa I think was a mercenary, I still don't know how Quatre can handle having twenty-nine older sisters, and Wufei…well, his culture has some odd demands, which included his being married the year or two before we all went to Earth to try to stop this madness. We kind of ended up just talking at one point and came to the understanding that he's not the self-righteous prick I initially thought he was and I'm not the long-haired, American idiot he initially thought I was either.

"You two head on downstairs – I'll help Maxwell finish up here."

I open my mouth to retort that I can handle the rest of it, but black eyes lock on me and force me to back down.

"Sure thing." Trowa gently redirects a confused Quatre out the door.

There is about ten solid seconds of dead silence before I voice my curiosity. "I guess you want to talk, huh? I suppose I should apologize to them about earlier."

"I wouldn't." My head whips around to look at him from where I had been picking up errant cards. "Winner should have known better than to ask such a stupid question."

"Yeah, but…"

His look shuts me up again. "You need to stop second guessing yourself. Though I guess that would be one sign that you are long overdue for a break since normally you just jump right in and worry about the consequences later."

Turning back to picking up cards, I contemplate his words. Yeah, I haven't been myself lately, but… "Look at where that got me this time. I've been lucky up until now."

"I don't think luck had anything to do with it." He pauses in picking up the glasses to consider something, "I most likely shouldn't be telling you anything, but Une has been watching you for quite a long time. Occasionally I find myself in her office being questioned if there is something wrong between us since you spend so much time on the job. Yuy has experienced the same. Neither of us has been able to provide her with the information she seeks."

"Heh…so she was waiting for me to fuck up royally. Great…" then it hits me, "Crap, I didn't mean to get you guys in trouble. It's really nothing like that. I mean it."

"Duo, I know. When you find something to be loyal to, you stick to it. You're extremely dedicated and I think that is what is causing that woman to worry." I hear him head off to deposit the glasses in the sink to be washed later.

I wouldn't call myself dedicated…just lacking any other direction in my life.

"I'll be preparing breakfast again tomorrow at the same time. Come down if you want. Winner can starve if he doesn't wake up in time." I watch Chang head towards the door.

"Hey, what about the game?" I go to hand him the box and stop when he signals.

"I have a feeling we'll be playing again up here – you might as well keep hold of it for now. Good night, Duo." Quietly, he leaves, and then the silence becomes deafening.

Finding myself looking around the room, self-doubt that was kept away mostly by their presence starts creeping in on me again. Shaking my head, I make the mental decision to get a hold of myself. This is really not a good time for a mental breakdown. I'm stronger than this, aren't I? What happened to all those dreams of really becoming something good?  
----------  
Fin  
by JeiC  
July 2006


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I really should just make one catch-all disclaimer and use it all the time, but alas, I write a new one every time. So it's gonna be the same old I don't own Gundam Wing, but I did write this story so please keep my name on it if you're gonna pass it along.  
Author's Notes: Lets play count the OCs…actually, I AUed two of my OCs, but I wanted to bring them out of where they've been waiting, only seeing action occasionally in RPGs, and let them play for a bit. More notes at the end.  
Warnings: angst, language, yaoi implications

**Away From Me  
****Chapter 3**

by JeiC  
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_But oh, God, I feel I've been lied to  
---  
_Repeating yesterday morning's routine, sans Quatre knocking at my door, giving me a chance to find decent clothes to wear and braid my hair even though it's still wet, I wander downstairs and lightly knock on the first floor door – actually waiting for someone to answer this time.

The door opens slightly, and a black eye peers at me somewhat sleepily. "You're early," he comments quietly as to not disturb his guests. The door opens more and Chang allows me entrance. I raise an eyebrow at him since it is almost the same time as yesterday. "I thought you might try to sleep in a bit. Winner and Barton certainly are."

Taking note of his loose, shoulder length hair, I retort at the same volume, "You know I don't sleep in, Wufei."

"I haven't started yet so make yourself comfortable. Or wake those two up – I really don't care which." He moved away from the door, leaving me to close it. I went digging through his cabinets as soon as I entered his domain in order to set the table.

"Maxwell…"

"Just let me do this, Chang. Then I'll go wake the guys up." Just let me do something to stop feeling so useless all the time.

For someone so quiet, I nearly jumped at the normal level of his voice, "You just need to wake Quatre up."

To smite Trowa's attempt at helping me set the table, I finish before he can grab anything.

"Well, guess it's time to wake the little guy up then," and no matter what, I can't wipe the mischievous grin off my face.

"Be careful," Barton throws at my back as he heads to take a quick shower.

Oh, I know – none of us likes to be woken…especially as rudely as I'm about to wake the head of the Winner Corporation.

Double-checking that I have a clear path, I grab the comforter, sheets, and pillows, taking off back down the hall, hearing a yelp as he hits the floor. I stop with the biggest grin on my face once I reach the kitchen with my arms full from my spoils.

"Winner is going to kill you," is the only response the Chinese man gives me.

I must look like some kid who knows what he just did and has no regrets about it. "You said to wake him up – you never specified how."

He shakes his head as he digs orange juice out of the refrigerator. "I thought you would have more self preservation instincts than that."

The hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up as I sense a presence behind me and I turn, throwing the bedding at whoever my would-be attacker is.

The blonde Arabian unburies himself from the mess that just landed on him, knocking him on his ass. "You know, I don't think I'm awake enough to properly pay Duo back yet. It'll just have to wait," his comment is directed at no one in particular.

"You are best off giving up on that notion my friend," Wufei chimes in, cutting up kielbasa to grill. You know, I kind of find it amusing that Chang has this thing for Polish food. He used to always eat traditional Chinese foods, but after some experimenting with other cultures, and that first visit to the Polish Festival in town, he loves it. He loves to mix and match a lot of different foods. I occasionally joke with him that he should have become a gourmet chef, but to be honest, he really should have since he really loves to cook for people. Hell only knows how many times he's made enough for Heero and I.

Quatre sighs dramatically, "You're probably right." Curling back up under the covers, he calls out, "Let me know when breakfast is ready."

"Winner, you are not sleeping on the kitchen floor!" Wufei hollers at him, handing me the spatula and grabbing the bedding, walking back towards the room it belongs in, leaving Quatre behind in a pile on the floor.

His rumpled blonde hair hides his face, "Geez, I can't win."

Offering a hand to help him up, I make the corniest joke of the morning, "No, Winner, you can't win."

"Ha ha, funny. Jerk." Yeah, Quatre definitely is cranky. "So what were you planning on doing today?"

I hear Trowa coming out of the bathroom, having decided to take a longer shower probably to avoid the chaos with getting his partner out of bed. "Don't know. Hadn't really thought about it. I'd offer to help you guys out, but I think Une would have my head if she knew I snuck back into the office." I turn my attention to the sizzling meat, flipping it out of fear of it burning. Chang left breakfast in charge to the wrong person when he escaped, but I guess I was the only one available at the time.

"You better go take your shower," was said quietly to Quatre by his taller partner.

I have a feeling that was Trowa's way of breaking up a very awkward situation. This time it was my fault. Really though, last night's was mine as well. I wonder if I should apologize to them…it really isn't fair how I've been acting. Usually I can brush things right off – you know, roll with the punches and all.

Need to break away from it more… "Hey, Wufei! You might want to hurry – breakfast is burning." That and I don't want to be in charge of this. It will be burning soon if he doesn't take over again. It isn't a lie…just foreseeing the future.

A tall, silent presence looks over my shoulder, dripping water from his long bangs onto my shirt. "It's not burning."

"Geez, Maxwell, are you so hopeless that…" he's quickly at my side and giving me an exasperated look. "It's fine. You aren't burning it. Just keep doing what you're doing – I'm going to go finish cleaning up after Winner."

Yeah, Chang, I am hopeless. Pushing the meat around, I debate sneaking apiece except that Barton is watching me from where he has taken up residence at the table. "I hope you aren't getting the table wet – Wufei is going to have a fit."

"I'm not." Oh, I wish I could take my eyes off this for a second to see if he's telling the truth or not, but I dare not out of fear of ruining it. You know, the thing where I turn away for a moment and the whole thing bursts into flames deal.

I hear the Chinese man pound a couple of times on the bathroom door to signal to Quatre that he needs to hurry up only moments before he comes back and starts making pancakes. "Hey, um…" I wave the spatula at him.

"I've got another one," he notes, using said extra on the pancakes. "The best way to learn is to do it."

The best way to fuck something up is to let me near it, my mind edits. Sometimes I think people forget who they're talking to.

"Duo, could you stop that?"

Blinking momentarily, I turn away from the food to look questionably at Quatre. "You want me to stop being Chang's slave?" Hearing the sizzle gain in volume, I quickly turn back to what I was doing.

"You're not a slave – I'm making you learn how to cook," is the retort I get from my side.

Approaching my other side carefully, the blonde chides, "I want you to stop berating yourself."

Damn empath. "Listen, I'm just off my game right now. I'll bounce back in no time." I smile and hope to hell he believes it because I want to believe it so badly. It's getting harder to look at myself in the mirror.

"If you say so…" quickly he tries to reach for a piece of food and gets his hand smacked by both myself and Wufei. Holding his injured hand, he scurries back to the table and hides behind Trowa.

Quatre's antics have been off the wall ever since he got here as if he's trying to be the clown instead of his partner, and I can't help but honestly laugh at them. I guess the boardroom really has been getting to him.

Just right now I should really be focusing on not burning the food.

The rest of breakfast continues without any further complications. Following them out to the main hallway between the apartments, Chang pauses as the other two head towards his car, and I take note that all of them are in civvies but carrying their Preventer jackets. "I'm just going to make sure that Fleet doesn't read the requisition wrong…or not at all."

"Yeah, I know how they are about that. They honestly want you to bribe them to get signed forms processed right. I suggest chocolate – it's safer than promising to buy the secretary a drink," I quip. They are pretty bad and I'm somewhat surprised that Une hasn't started cracking down on them.

"I'm not going to ask." Even with his back to me, I can tell he's rolling his eyes. "I should be back shortly after that – I have no reason to stay, but Barton and Winner have to attend a few more briefings before they can get to the caseload."

"Hey…" something from yesterday just came to mind that I wanted to ask, "What were you and Quatre arguing about when you got back yesterday – I could hear you guys in the kitchen with music on, but I didn't feel like eavesdropping."

Wufei hesitates, which is not like him, "We were in disagreement over one of our assignments." Waving over his shoulder, he catches up with the others to take them to headquarters.

Heading back upstairs, I contemplate on just how unhelpful that was. Une ordered that shrink pretty bloody quick. That means she could have also given orders to the guys in how to handle me since we all live pretty much together. Separate apartments almost doesn't mean anything since I know Heero and Wufei will often hang out in one or the other as we have done with the three on the first floor and myself.

Looking around the apartment, I find that there isn't a whole lot to do. Yeah, there's that video game, but it's pretty nice outside. I can always go for that recon run that I never got to yesterday.

Setting about to take myself up on that offer, I'm outside about fifteen minutes later after getting myself together at a far too leisurely pace. Two days and I'm slipping…I better get back into the swing of things before I completely fall out.

Deciding on a longer run so I can get better coverage of the area, I set my pace accordingly. I can feel my braid beating against my back as I take in my surroundings for the first time in far too long. Things have changed, but not significantly. One house added a pool, another looks like it had windows replaced recently – mostly small improvements that I would normally have bypassed since they really didn't affect my barely living in the neighborhood before.

To be honest, it's fairly nice around here. Passing by some small shops, I slow down as I pass a girl, around my age, coming out of a music store looking somewhat depressed and not paying attention to her surroundings.

Or so I think as she moves out of my path quickly, without having looked up. I swear I hear her say, "Maybe it's for the best," before heading off towards the café next door that I passed moments earlier.

The look in those blue-gray eyes is that of defeat for merely a moment before determination sets in.

Right now, I wish I had her strength. Though maybe there is something I can learn from her – to be able to dust myself off and keep going. I used to be able to do that, but this time…this time is different for some reason.

Finishing the outer portion of my circuit through the shops, I head back to the house. With the length of time I've been out, if all went smoothly at HQ, Wufei will probably be pounding down my door again. For some reason I feel like he wants to talk, but he doesn't want to do it with Quatre and Trowa around.

Coming up on the house, I step off the driveway and towards the door when Chang pulls up in the driveway. Pausing on the walkway, I turn and wait for him, realizing now that I'm going to need another shower because I'm soaked with sweat. I'm not tired in the least though – I could have honestly kept going for awhile longer, but the high humidity levels makes it hard for sweat to evaporate not to mention it's starting to get rather hot.

"I see you found something to do," is the greeting I get.

"Wanted to yesterday, but then I had an unexpected visitor." Really, that's what I was thinking about, but I never got to it.

The response I get is a raised eyebrow in question as we take the conversation inside. "A Preventer visitor I'm going to presume."

"Yep." I debate if I want to say more or not and decide to hold off on that until after I don't feel so sticky, "I'd love to stay and chat, but I need a shower."

Giving me a one-moment sign, Chang quickly enters his apartment and deposits his Preventer jacket before signaling me to head upstairs. "I can wait."

Shrugging, I do as I'm told – not taking much time to shower and change back into the clothes I was wearing earlier this morning. Seeing if the Chinese man wants anything to drink, I grab both of us glasses of water before taking up residence in the recliner again.

Not sure if the recliner is getting a lot of love or abuse. "So what would you like to talk about Dr. Chang?" Oh no…I'm using bad puns now. Someone shoot me, please.

"Duo…"

Damn, I was trying to lighten the mood. "Yeah, yeah…so what did you want to talk about?"

Sighing, he rubs the bridge of his nose before starting. "What I'm going to tell you stays between you and me. Got it?" I nod my reply. "You're not the only one that they've been looking at since the training exercise. The others are under a lot more scrutiny. I think that woman is trying to protect you from what is to be their fate."

"Whoa! Wait a minute. What do you mean by protect me?" Did I fuck up or did I not? It sounded a lot like the former when I was in Une's office.

Taking a sip of water he continues, "Keep in mind, this is all speculation on my part. The rumors have died down tremendously, but it seems that there has been a question regarding the actual capabilities of some of the operatives, which happen to be most of those who were in that training exercise. It seems like you gave them the perfect excuse to crack down on the deadweight."

Nice to see my mistake being put to good use, "But you said Une has been watching me for awhile."

Ooh, doesn't look like he wanted to go there. "You had been putting yourself under a lot of unnecessary pressure. You know what she expects of us and considering you usually handle the explosives…"

My defensive side kicks into high gear, "Hey, those are stored in a secure facility off-site and do you know the procedures I have to go through when I have to make specialty ones? Most of the morons there don't know chewing gum from C4."

"That was a joke, Duo."

"Oh…sorry." Man do I feel like a complete dumb-ass now.

Holding up his hand to stop me from anything further I might say, he clarifies, "That was not my best attempt at humor and was rather insensitive of me. But I would like to ask why you put so much stress on yourself."

"Stress?" Is it stress? "I'm just doing my job, Wufei."

It seems like he wants to ask something else, but simply shrugs and changes the subject. Eventually we find ourselves digging out the video game console and virtually beating the crap out of each other. I knew we kept a couple of those fighting games around for a reason.

I fall backwards from where I was sitting on the floor laughing as this little Asian chick that I got stuck with at random takes down the big, muscle guy Chang had ended up playing with the strangest of attacks. Ah, the joys of button mashing – you never know what you're going to get.

"This game has dishonored me," he says in a serious tone, "So what else do you have?"

I laugh at the fact that he was poking fun at himself. "Um…how about this one? I think we've got two controllers for it." I wave a music simulation game at him and hold up one of the special controllers for it. Doesn't take me long to dig out the other one since they aren't small in which I turn and hand to him since it is already set up for the right side.

Sometimes I wonder why I picked up all these games since I'm never home to play them. Well, not usually. Okay, so I don't have that many – some of them I used to play with Hilde when I worked at the scrap yard.

I glance over to see Chang poking at his controller, not sure what to make of the seven keys and turntable setup. "How on Earth do you play this game?"

Pointing as I explain what to hit at what time, I offer, "I haven't played for a long time, but if you want, I'll play a round or two so you can see. We can play on the really easy songs."

It takes Wufei a little bit, but he quickly gets the hang of the game, and I'm not as out of practice as I thought.

As I debate on the next song, he looks over at the time, "Do you want to break for lunch?"

Looking over to check the time myself, I double-check it against my watch to make sure I have the right time. "Late lunch, but sure." Geez, can't believe it's already 1400.

Chang heads straight for the kitchen area, immediately looking through to see what there is that can be made. I think normally I'd have an issue, but he has been practically living here the past couple of days. "You didn't do much grocery shopping it seems."

"Hey, I wasn't expecting company yesterday, but I wasn't about to let Nora starve just because Une sent her out her without much notice." Though I guess that doesn't account for the sparse amount of food that I did buy. "Okay, I really didn't want to spend more time than I needed to at the grocery store," I finally admitted.

"Nora?" he asks, closing the refrigerator.

"Sorry, Agent Reilly," I correct myself. It must sound strange for me to already be on a first name basis with the shrink, but in all honesty, it's only a ditching of the formalities, not being familiar enough with each other for it.

"Hm…I don't know her." And I'm not about to tell you what I do because then you'll know I was on the Preventer network yesterday snooping around. "Lets get going before Barton and Winner get back." I find myself getting pushed out of the kitchen.

"Hey! Wait a minute! Where are we going?" putting some resistance against Wufei, but not enough to really make an effort, I slowly progress towards the door.

"You need groceries. Grab your wallet." Demanding, isn't he?

Doing as I'm told, soon we're in Chang's car and heading back to a place that I really don't want to go…especially on a Saturday afternoon. "Um, Wufei, is this such a good idea? Isn't it going to be crowded?"

A black eye slides over to look at me for a moment. "I also need to get groceries so it is a sensible idea. I didn't think you had a problem with crowded places."

"I don't. It's just…well…" Damn, how do I explain this without sounding like an idiot? Oh wait – I am an idiot, so no luck there.

"You're just going to have to deal with it, Maxwell." Here I just shut up and glare out the window, sinking lower into the seat, mentally noting that I'm not fond of cars – too low to the ground, making me feel like I'm dragging my ass on the pavement. "You can't honestly find it that distasteful of a task."

Yes I can, my mind supplies, but then I think about it, "No, I guess it really isn't all that bad."

The rest of the ride is silent, though not an awkward silence. It would get to be that if it was a longer drive than it happens to be. I blink as he pulls up in front of one of my favorite restaurants.

Giving him a confused look, he responds, "Winner was talking about getting Chinese take-out for dinner."

"Okay, point taken." I move to get out. The places around here, last I knew, were really not that good. "I thought you wanted to get groceries."

"After we eat. The perishable food will only spoil if we get it first," heh, yeah, guess that's a good point, "Besides, there will be less people if we go later. I do not enjoy listening to small children throwing temper tantrums."

I can't help but laugh at the image of Wufei grinding his teeth as someone's kid near him is throwing a fit because they want candy or something else and their parent refuses to buy it for them. It's kind of nice to know that I'm not the only former Gundam pilot who would sooner avoid a store than deal with bratty kids. We've been through Hell and back and put ourselves through what no other sane person would dream of, but damn if we aren't still human in someway. Even Yuy has his human side, though he seems to like to deny it.

Damn…eleven days left before he returns. If it wasn't that Quatre and Trowa were staying with Chang now, I'd ask him if I could hide down in his apartment.

I get pulled out of my gloom and doom thoughts by a very weak backhand to my chest. "Winner is right – you do have a dark cloud that keeps popping up over your head." Then he signals me to follow him as we are seated immediately upon entering and being greeted by the hostess.

After we put in our drink orders with the waitress, I ask after she scurries off, "What do you mean 'dark cloud?'"

"And here I was hoping you could explain its random appearances and why it seems to be growing and getting darker. Though I suppose I could take a well educated guess at it." Black eyes never leave the menu.

Folding my menu and putting it aside, I debate on exactly what he's asking for, but before I can decide that, our waitress is back with some bread and our drinks. This is such a treat for me – I absolutely love their bread. The food is awesome also, but the bread is so good. It has been so long since I've been here.

Once she takes our order, I snag the first piece of bread, munching happily. Heero and I would come here on occasion after work, but that was before I started working long hours. We had some fun times even though he almost never looks like he's having a good time. Now I guess those are going to be just pleasant memories. I really just want to run and hide – I don't want to face him when he returns, and at the same time, I want to see him. He's the only one that really seems to understand me on my level. Chang comes damn close, but there are still some differences that cause things to not translate well.

"So, Yuy is going to be back in eleven days now I believe. My math may be wrong." I can feel him watching me, and I cringe that someone else is keeping track of my time left.

"Yeah, unless he manages to wrap things up early – you know how he is." He still tries to play the part of the perfect soldier, but you know what – he isn't perfect and he never was. Everyone holds him in such high regard that I see him push himself to live up to the image that people have of him. I kind of feel sorry for him. I just wish that as his partner, I could live up to the standards he's set. Maybe that's why he took this solo mission…maybe he already knew that I was an accident waiting to happen.

"Duo, if you even think of running, I will break your legs." Huh? I look directly at him, wondering where the hell that came from and at the same time glad he can't read minds…well, not last I checked anyway. "Don't assume that you know what Yuy is going to think – he has surprised us at times."

Swallowing the piece of bread I had been chewing, I retort, "Wufei, Heero is going to kill me when he gets his hands on me. I think that's pretty much a given at this point unless I manage to clear everything up before he gets back, which isn't looking very likely at this point." Okay, not literally kill me…well, I hope not anyway.

"I would hold off judgment if I were you. The facts pretty much do stand in your favor."

"What? That the people in that exercise are a bunch of pompous assholes who firmly believe that they are God's gift to the United Earth Sphere when they can't even recon their way out of a paper bag?" I hiss at him, keeping my voice as far down as I can.

Chang raises an eyebrow at me. "I thought you didn't believe in God."

"I don't, but they do." The God of Death on the other hand…

"Touché." Black eyes pierce me, "Sometimes I wish I knew what was going on in that head of yours."

"Only a stupid fool would want to go near my mind." I'm surprised that they managed to talk one of the base psychologists into even attempting it.

"Funny – I'm neither stupid nor foolish. Perhaps a little misguided in my endeavors…" That smirk is annoying me. I don't know why, but it is. "I think it is a good time to switch topics. How did you get so good at the last game we were playing?"

"A lot of practice." I went into how I got hooked on the game through an event that was being held in the area and then how I got the game and would take it and set it up at a games day at the local church orphanage. While Hilde would play different games with the younger kids, I'd go head-to-head with the older ones on that game and a few other music simulation games. I got another set up and donated that one to the church along with some of the other games I had. Some of the older kids got really good at it and others took to the dancing one. Some just plain had no interest, but you can't please everyone.

My story continued on through the end of our meal, occasionally pausing to get a question from Wufei. "It was just really cool to see everyone get together. They'd be challenging each other, but at least it was on a screen rather than fighting each other in real life. In all honesty, I think it brought a lot of those kids together. Some even started going to the competitions in the area with me. It was just a little awkward to go into the church hall and be referred to as DJ Duo."

While I dig into my wallet to pay my half of the bill, Chang asks as he does the same, "How come you stopped?"

Having found the money in the mean time and putting it, tip and all, with the bill, I look at him like he has two heads. "Um…because Sally called me to come help the Preventers." Checking my watch quickly, I notice that we've wasted the better part of an hour here.

After I hand off the money to the waitress and we both get up, he continues, "You have a copy of the game here. Why did you stop playing? You obviously enjoyed it."

"I just haven't had time. Work keeps me busy." I keep myself busy with work. Man how I miss the great times I had doing that, but I can do so much more for people as Agent Maxwell than I can as DJ Duo even though the latter sounds much cooler.

"I see," the Chinese man smartly concludes – I think pushing it further would have aggravated me.

But… "Hey, Wufei…do you think that maybe I'm just not cut out to be a Preventer?"

"I personally think that you are one of our best agents, but everyone has to follow their own path and if that means away from the Preventer Corps, then that is the path you must follow." See what I mean by fortune cookie?

Chang has good advice, but… "I don't think I could abandon the Preventers. Well, not of my own accord anyway. Getting kicked out is another story."

As we get into his car and head to our next destination, he comes back with, "You could take the option that Barton and Winner took and go on reserve."

"I don't know about that…I guess I'll just have to wait and see," nice, easy, and open-ended answer, which is exactly what I need – something non-committal.

Wufei moves on to lighter topics, but never strays far from what I'm guessing is his self-appointed task of trying to figure me out. He's trying to be helpful, but it's hard when I feel like I've been living a lie all this time.

After getting dragged through the grocery store again far earlier than I hoped to have to encounter it, we head back to the house. I miss having the small, outdoor vendors on L2 – it felt less cold and sterile, though the prices of food were as absurd as it was when I lived on the streets. I usually would go to the scrap sellers because while the selection was small, I have found some rare pieces I needed for various projects.

Not seeing an extra vehicle in the driveway, I wonder where Quatre and Trowa are. This is way longer than the half-day that they were planning on. "Um…was Fleet giving the guys that hard of a time requisitioning a car?"

Chang took notice of the lack of our guests, "No, Une had personally made sure herself that they got a good vehicle. Last I had seen them, they had been heading into a meeting with her and another woman."

Grabbing my half of the groceries, I notice a girl getting out of her truck in the driveway next door wearing a burgundy colored tank top and what looked like white martial arts pants. Cold, gray eyes lock onto me as she realizes that I'm watching her. I smile and wave, feeling like the biggest dumb-ass right now.

My friend beside me looks over to see who I'm waving at and does the same. The girl hefts up her duffle bag and walks over to us. The confidence she has in carrying herself is apparent, but at the same time, there is something humbling about her. Maybe it's her lack of height seeing as she maybe tops maybe 152 or 153 centimeters.

"Guest or new tenant, Master Chang?" the girl who seems to be of Native American origin asks. Her voice is soft, but not weak.

I raise an eyebrow at Wufei being called "Master Chang." He ignores me, "I'm afraid he's our normally missing tenant."

Holding out my hand to the girl, "Duo Maxwell is the name."

Looking at my hand for a moment before taking it, she reciprocates, "Sierra Archer. Apologies for my current state – just got home from the dojo."

"I take it that today was an Aikido day for you," Wufei converses casually. After receiving a nod, he continues, "Sometimes Yuy and I spar with Archer. She is quite skilled in both Aikido and Brazilian martial arts with training in other forms as well. Were you teaching today?"

Sierra nods again, and I take note of the long hair, pulled up into a ponytail and the tail split into seven braids. "Are you the master of that school?" It's a legitimate question.

"There are no masters in Aikido, but I'm not a sensei either – merely sempai."

Glancing at his watch, Wufei comments, "It is rather late for you, is there a seminar this weekend?"

Archer nods, "Through tomorrow. Need to shower and head back to set up for the dinner. Testing for shodan at the end of the seminar."

"I wish you the best then," the Chinese man nods towards her.

I reflect Wufei's sentiments, "Yeah, I'm sure you'll be awesome."

"Thank you, Master Chang and Mr. Maxwell," she waves as she heads back towards her house where there is what looks like her twin standing with the door open.

"The other one is her younger sister, Sienna. From what I understand, both of them have lived in this area their whole lives, but they moved next door about a year ago," Wufei remarks picking his bags of groceries out of the truck.

Not being able to hold onto the question any longer, I ask, "So…why did she call you 'Master?'" I lead the way back to the house, my arms laden with bags. Jostling my keys, I manage to get the door open.

"I had attained that level in my art. I have told Archer previously that she does not have to refer to me that way, but she still insists on it." I let Wufei by so he can get to his door first. "I am hoping that she will forego that formality once she has reached shodan."

"I don't know what 'shodan' is, but it sounds like I don't want to piss her off," her manner of speaking may be a bit odd, but I think she's the kind of person who talks softly and kicks major ass.

"First degree black belt," Wufei translates. "I am going to check on the status of the others and then I will go upstairs."

I nod, kind of wishing I could have time to myself, but knowing that I will definitely have plenty of time alone during the week.

Letting myself into the apartment, I set about putting the food away. This place really does look stocked now and I have to admit, I did learn a lot from Wufei today, though I am rather curious how he and Heero seemed to have gotten so friendly with our next-door neighbors.

After that self-appointed task is complete, I head back over towards the discarded game. I guess while I wait to clear everything up it couldn't hurt to play it again. Booting the console up, the phone rings.

It doesn't take me long to get over to it. "Hey Hilde. What's up?"

"Nothing. Just wanted to call and see what my favorite braided idiot was doing – I'm actually kind of surprised that I caught you at home." Even though it is meant as a joke, I still cringe at being called an idiot. "Is everything okay? Duo?"

"Heh, nothing I can't handle – just took a bit of a blow to my ego recently is all. So what have you been up to?" Hopefully I didn't just lie to her. I hope I can handle this.

"I'm guessing you don't want to talk about it right now. Nothing out of the ordinary is going on. The scrap yard has been doing pretty good recently. Might have something to do with the fact that people prefer to get good used parts than pay an arm and a leg for new parts that may or may not last very long." She brushes that stubborn section of bangs out of her face, "Hey, is that 'The Game' I hear in the background. I didn't think you still played."

I laugh at the title she gives it…it was a running joke for awhile because I could talk non-stop with someone if they brought it up. "Wufei got me back into playing it."

"Oh no, you're starting another cult – the United Earth Sphere is doomed," my enemy-turned-friend makes a face of horror. "The kids up here miss you. Next time you get to take a vacation, you should come back and visit. I can let you know when the next Games Day is."

"I can't make any promises, but I'll see what I can do." Hell, I might end up moving back there.

"Some of them have gotten good enough that they've gone onto the bigger competitions. Oh, that reminds me, I need to send you the pictures of the group of them that dressed up as some of the characters again this last time. They had me take pictures that they wanted me to send to you. I also have a few videos I'm going to send as well. It's been so long since you've been here, Duo…"I don't think it's very fair of her to turn the sad, pleading eyes one me.

"I know, Hilde, I know," I run my hand through my bangs, "I was actually just talking to Wufei earlier about them. Let me know when the next one is and I'll try. Besides…I need time to get back into practice so I can show those little punks a thing or two." Outside I'm laughing, but inside it feels like something is clenching tighter around my chest.

Hilde laughs with me, "You better be prepared for the worst then. Hey, if you've got some spare time, do you think you could build another dual controller for them? The two single controllers that you gave them way back have died and I can't fix them anymore short of trying to rebuild the whole thing, but I haven't gotten any spare parts lately that'll hold up to their pounding."

"C'mon…the controllers can't be so bad that you can't salvage…" my sentence trails off when Hilde holds up one of the broken controllers, which is in pieces, "Damn…"

"The buttons kept sticking and the turntable had gotten stiff when Anja and Mark decided to have a showdown. The custom controller you built the kids is still in decent condition – I've had to make some repairs thanks to wear and tear, but…I think they would like it if you could make them a new one." There are those pleading eyes again – sometimes I'm such a sucker.

"I don't know, man. They beat on them pretty hard – I better make a couple." Our conversation continues until Chang knocks on the door. "Hey Hilde, I've got to run. I'll talk to you again later."

She waves as she gets ready to disconnect, "I'll send that stuff I promised. Later!"

As soon as the screen goes black, I run to the door to let him in – skidding to a stop before I slam into said object. "Sorry about that. Unexpected phone call," I move to the side to allow him entry.

"Barton said that they were picking up food and would be back in about half an hour, or at least that was what I could make out over some woman yelling at someone, damning him and his ancestors." Wufei's face tells me that he isn't kidding around, "They are just going to come up here when they get in."

Rolling my eyes, I sarcastically remark, "Sounds like Tro is having himself a good time."

Ignoring my last comment, Chang eyes the television, "You were playing again also?"

"I had planned on it until Hilde called. Turning it on is as far as I got. I promised her that I'd make a couple of controllers for the kids," I shrug at no one, "Figured it'd give me something to do while I wait to be let back to work. Hope you don't mind me taking over part of the garage for awhile."

"As long as it keeps you from being self destructive." He picks up the controller he had been using earlier and looked at it, and asks before I can demand to know what he meant by that, "Did you make these?"

"Huh? No, those are the ones that come with the game." I left the dual I had made up on L2 with Hilde and just bought a set when I got settled in here.

Inspecting the plastic menace that calls itself a controller, the Chinese man notes, "Perhaps you could build yourself a new set then while you're at it. I would like to see the difference between these and yours."

"I'm not sure mine are any better – maybe a bit sturdier, but I salvage parts from the official ones." Snatching up the other controller, I find one of the songs that I use to find difficult – this'll have Wufei cursing at me in short order.

---

Just as a song wraps up, there's a knock on the apartment door, "Just a minute!" I'm doing way too good right now to go run for the door and it's almost done. Chang just puts his controller down in defeat and goes to answer it instead, though I finish the moment both of them are inside.

"Ooooh…can I play?" Quatre pretty much bounces over and plops himself down on the floor next to me, putting the bags of food down on the other side of him to pick up the controller that Wufei had discarded, the blonde begins cycling through the songs. "I play this sometimes in the arcade near the office. One of the corporation's investments introduced me to it."

The smell of the food has me distracted and I hold up my controller for either of the other two. "Either of you guys want to play him? I'm going to go set the table."

The controller gets pushed back down onto my lap. "No, I'm playing you. We've got disposable plates and such so unless it's a house rule to not eat in here, this is where we're eating."

"We also stopped to pick up a movie," Trowa explains, but Quatre seems to have other ideas as he finds a song he likes to play.

As the game contemplates playing the song, I comment, "Wufei, I guess you didn't warn Quatre, did you?"

"No, and I have no intention of it either." Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Chang reaching to pick up the bags and take them over to where we pushed the coffee table earlier – working with Barton to get everything out.

Over the course of the evening, we take turns playing each other or taking breaks to grab something to eat. Surprisingly the food isn't as bad as I was expecting.

Having company is great and all, but I'm not use to being around people so much like this. I feel like I'm being watched…evaluated…studied – you pick the word that works best for you. It seems like lately that they're trying to force the idea that I'm not a total fuck-up, but in all actuality, I am. Last I checked, I wasn't doing much to keep the world safe by playing video games and building controllers. Sure, it brings joy to a few people, but I'm trying to bring the smiles back to a lot more people and on a lot more permanent basis. I know better than to think that I could possibly bring their smiles back forever.

Funny, I've been known as the God of Death and yet I'm still trying to make people happy. The world really should hate me. I've brought enough sorrow to people, but I can't help but want to atone for my actions during the war.

Maybe I should just give up – I mean, I have a hell of a time just trying to get my roommate to smile, and while Heero might be the greatest challenge I've faced, it's still a failure for me.

Catching Trowa dozing against the recliner, Wufei comments, "We should get going – it's fairly late."

Quatre roused his sleeping partner and they headed out after saying their good nights, with Chang pausing at the door as if he wanted to say something other than good night, but only followed the other two in suit.

They had helped me clean up as the night wore on so there wasn't anything beyond putting the game away. We never did get to that movie, but I guess it really doesn't matter.

A lot of things don't matter in the grand scheme of things. I mean, Heero is due back in eleven days – I really don't think I'll have this mess I've gotten myself into cleaned up by then. I'm going to sure as hell try, but I have a feeling I'm going to be living in the garage until they decide that I'm not worth keeping on payroll anymore.

Heading towards bed, all I feel is this sense of foreboding. Maybe that's the dark cloud that Wufei was talking about earlier.  
----------  
Fin  
by JeiC  
July 2006  
---  
Author's Notes: Not much to say other than this has been a long time project (mostly 'cause I kept going back to rewrite it because I wasn't happy with it) of mine that just stemmed from a picture I once saw of Duo sitting in a window watching the rain outside. If you're looking to listen to the song that inspired this fic, "Away From Me" by Evanescence, it is on the Origin album.

And yes, this is a multi-part story…I'm probably going to keep to one chapter equals one day since while I had initially wanted to write this as a one shot and as a songfic, I thought these changes suited it better. You may or may not see me slow down in producing chapters in the next week or so since classes will be starting up again and I'm not sure how much time I will have to write. Also, I cross-post this on deviantart, and Eikou Studios.

Also, the games noted here: the fighting game I made up – there are simply too many out there with a million different versions. The game that Duo talks about mostly is Beatmania IIDX – I didn't name it in the story because who is to say that it'll be around then, but I would imagine that something similar would be. Also, the other game barely noted would be either Dance Dance Revolution or In The Groove. Yes, I play IIDX. No, I am currently nowhere near Duo's level of awesomeness. Is this a shameless plug for Desktop Arcade's custom controllers…maybe. Do I work for them – no.

On a side note:  
I think I've cosplayed Duo as a Preventer too much lately. hugs her Preventer jacket

Special thanks to:  
**Amy:** Thank you so much for being the first person to review this fic. I was starting to have doubts about if I should put the time and energy into continuing it. Your review was very helpful to me and actually made me stop and think about where I'm headed with the story. To be honest, all I know is the beginning and the end – everything else in between is pretty up in the air, including when Heero comes back.

As for you question about Nora…I wish I could answer you about her, but that would mean I'd have an answer. I haven't quite yet decided how much she is going to weigh in the story since most of her work is going to be to get information and then sit down and analyze it. While I enjoyed taking psychology classes in high school and college, I don't pretend to know enough about it to really get super in depth with her. Who she is going to be in relation to Duo…I'm gonna be mean here, but keep on reading. I hate to spoil surprises (especially for me).

**Susan and cewo:** Yay! Thank you for the reviews. I'm writing as fast as possible, but they certainly aren't short chapters. If I get a chapter out every couple of weeks, I think I'll be happy. I wanna get them out faster 'cause I wanna know what happens too. Okay, so I know the end, but it's the journey that's important.  
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	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I really should just make one catch-all disclaimer and use it all the time, but alas, I write a new one every time. So it's gonna be the same old I don't own Gundam Wing, but I did write this story so please keep my name on it if you're gonna pass it along.  
Author's Notes: Notes at the end.  
Warnings: angst, language, yaoi implications

**Away From Me  
****Chapter 4**

by JeiC  
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_Lost all faith in the things I have achieved  
__And I  
---  
_Glaring at my alarm clock, I give up trying to will myself to sleep long enough to actually find out what the it sounds like. I turn it off just incase it would wake my downstairs neighbors. Normally I wouldn't worry too much about waking Wufei, but Quatre and Trowa are right below me.

Setting about to get ready for the day, half my mind starts working on what I'll need to get started on those controllers while the other half tries to figure out what else to do with myself.

The countdown continues – ten days left until Heero's return and I don't get to see Ms. Nora Reilly until tomorrow to keep working on trying to clean up this mess that I have gotten myself into. To be honest though, I'm not so sure she's going to be willing to help me. She might drag it out and eventually lock me away in the name of her science. Honestly, I don't look very good in white.

I'm really starting to wish I knew more about psychology than I do. I know enough in terms of interrogation, but other than that, I never really bothered.

Still not hearing any sounds of life downstairs after killing over an hour, I finish braiding my hair – grabbing my wallet and keys as I head out the door. I figure a walk couldn't hurt, though it'll definitely throw them for a loop if they don't realize that I'm not in the apartment. Ah well, should make things interesting.

"Good morning!" A cheerful voice comes from the house next door as I pass it.

Turning to look at my greeter, I recall the girl's name from yesterday as I stride towards where she's loading her a couple of duffle bags into the back of the truck, "Good morning, Ms. Archer." Hey, she called me Mr. Maxwell yesterday – it's only proper, though there's something different about her today.

"Please, I'd rather Sienna." That would be the difference as well as the soft blue eyes that I finally take note of that were hidden by the fringe of her bangs. "I apologize for not coming out to meet you yesterday – I wasn't feeling well."

"It's okay – I hope you're feeling better. Sorry, I mistook you for your sister at first. The name's Duo Maxwell, but Duo is good enough." I offer my hand in greeting. "You're sure up early." I take note that her attire is similar to that of what her older sister was wearing yesterday.

She took my hand without hesitation and gave it a firm shake. "It happens a lot, so no big deal. Even sensei still confuses us sometimes and he's known us most of our lives. I'm not one hundred percent, but I promised Sierra that I would be on the mat today for her test. We'll be leaving soon for the rest of the seminar."

There's such a difference in the speech patterns between the two. Sensing someone near the front door, I look over in time to see the elder Archer emerge. She spouts off something rapid fire in another language and it takes me a moment to recognize it and then translate it, but Sienna's reply beats me to the punch, "You know, you could say good morning instead, and no, Duo isn't hitting on me – he has been the perfect gentleman." I'm somewhat grateful for her switching the conversation back to English – it was going to get very awkward very quickly if they decided to talk to each other in that Native American dialect and I had to pretend to not know what they were saying. What can I say, I grew up on L2 – I learned a lot of languages rather quickly so that I knew what someone was yelling at me. Never thought I'd be hearing that one again though.

"Good morning, Ms. Archer," I chime sweetly. This time I have the right sister. I get a grumbled "Morning" in return.

Sienna laughs, "Don't mind Sierra – she didn't get home from the dinner until late last night so she's a bit cranky. Hopefully she doesn't kill an uke."

After having the effect of seeing double momentarily, I start to notice slight differences between the girls outside of their eye color. While they're both the same height, Sienna has a bit more in terms of a figure than Sierra, though oddly enough their hair even matches – auburn streaks amongst the deep, rich brown. With it styled the same way, and outside of the little physical differences, I really would swear they were identical twins. Their personalities are as different as the colors of their tank tops – Sienna in a light gray and Sierra in black, so while along the same line, they are vastly different shades. Then again, if you darken any color enough you'll get black.

Speaking of black… "Good luck on your test today, Ms. Archer."

The girl in question seems to have gotten a little less cranky in the time she's been out here. "Thank you, Mr. Maxwell. Rather Sierra."

"Then I would rather Duo," I smile at her, and though the thought is genuine, other thoughts that are lurking in the back of my mind makes it feel fake. Why am I even bothering to get to know them? I'm only going to be leaving soon myself. Besides, outside of the other former Gundam pilots, no one that has ever gotten to know me lives for very long. Though I suppose I can just be a nice neighbor. It's good to know a little about someone.

Getting a nod from Sierra, she turns to look at her sister, "_We need to get going._" For some reason though, I don't think she keeps switching the language on purpose as much as she's not awake enough to realize that she keeps slipping back into what I'm guessing is her native tongue.

"_You're being rude,_" Sienna snaps at her. Turning my way, she apologizes, "Please forgive Sierra for her behavior. Anyway, we need to get going – sensei promised us breakfast if we got there early enough."

"No problem. It was good to meet you Sienna, and good to see you again, Sierra." My words sound empty to my ears as much as I don't intend them to be.

Saying our farewells, I continue on my self-appointed journey, which eventually leads me to a little café that is actually open at this hour of the morning. It's the same one I passed by yesterday and with looking at my watch, it isn't as early as I thought – my stroll out here took a lot longer than I had predicted, but then again, I never had anything actually planned other than to kill time. Wufei should be up by now and probably Trowa. I'm not sure how long Quatre likes to sleep in since I woke him up yesterday.

Entering the café, I pause off to the side to read the menu and decide what I want before I get to the counter. This wasn't really planned, but it seems like a good enough idea as any. Besides, the music store next door opens up in less than an hour and I think I'd like to see if there's anything new that might interest me.

Ordering a hot chocolate and an apple turnover, I thank the cashier once I pay him and find a nice quiet table, snagging a free newspaper on my way there. I'm not really into coffee, but I end up drinking it at the office when they run out of tea or I'm in need of a caffeine boost. If I seriously need caffeine, then I usually raid the vending machine for either a soda with large amounts or one of those energy drinks.

Scooping some of the whipped cream off the top, I feel a little indulgent. It's been so long since I've had hot chocolate and it really is something that I enjoy, though you won't hear me actually admitting that to anyone.

Taking a bite out of the still warm pastry, I figure that I better not get use to this. Isn't it odd how you know you're going to be leaving an area and yet you find things that tie you to it? Even if it's just little things like a friendly neighbor…this is a really bad time for me to think about actually settling down for any length of time.

At least the guys haven't started calling me, trying to figure out where I ran off. In a way it's nice to have time to myself, but on the other side of that, it leaves me alone with thoughts that won't give me a moment's peace.

Bringing the now whipped cream-less mug to my lips, I internally sigh at how pathetic I am, flipping the page of the newspaper. This isn't me at all. I'm supposed to have it together a lot better than this. Then again, they did try to prove I was crazy during the wars.

Not so much crazy as on a self-proclaimed mission – playing as the God of Death the whole time. Man, was I ever naïve and stupid. I'm still stupid, but that's another conversation for another time.

Losing myself for a moment in the apple-y goodness that is the still warm turnover, I flip another page of the newspaper, not really reading it so much as skimming the articles, looking for something remotely interesting. Mostly it's local news so it isn't too bad, but there hasn't been anything that has caught my eye yet to fully read. To be honest though, the advertisement for the local college is more interesting than the majority of the articles.

Reading through the listing of programs, I make a mental note to perhaps check out their site when I get back to the apartment. The thought of dropping to reserve to go back to school and get that degree I had been planning on is beginning to sound pretty nice right about now.

Okay, so I really never chose a path that I wanted to follow, but this one seems to have a lot of the ones that I was interested in. Just…would I be able to do it? Could I pass the classes? This isn't high school – it's a completely different game.

Folding the newspaper back the way I got it, I move to toss it back on the pile, but decide to tuck it under my arm and take it with me as I leave. The music store should be open by now.

Sauntering up to said place of business, I enter upon seeing that they are indeed open. Walking silently past a display of current top 40, I stop at number one. Strata again.

I use to keep up with what was hot, but it seems like this band keeps the tradition of getting to the top spot. Picking up the music disc, I flip it over to read the back cover – this is one I haven't heard yet. Actually, I haven't heard anything by them outside of the two albums between the end of the war with the Barton Foundation and just before I joined up with the Preventers.

"Have you heard anything from that album yet?" the store clerk who had been stocking the racks asks from a couple of isles over.

Looking around to make sure that he was talking to me and finding that I'm the only customer in the store, I respond, "No. The only ones that I've heard are Phoenix Rising and Still Standing."

He doesn't pause in his task, "Ah…Ashes is quite different from those two, but if you're a fan of Renee Strata, you'll love it. It has an interesting story behind it that she kept from her fans until now…actually, everything from Phoenix Rising on is really part of the story. Anyway, this will be her last album for awhile – she's taking a break and getting her degree." Funny, I was just thinking about college.

Glancing quickly at my watch, I then remind myself that I have more time on my hands than I care to have, and the clerk definitely has my interest, "So what's the story?"

"Well, you know how the band was the Strata family?" For some reason, I'm not liking the "was" in that sentence. "The entire family was lost during when OZ took over the Alliance with the exception of herself and Robby. Robby's been hospitalized in a coma since and Renee has been working to repay the debt for herself and her brother with some L4 company that has been sponsoring them. Anyway, if you listen to the albums straight from Phoenix Rising on, it tells the story of what she's had to go through. Ashes is her commemoration of her family." The teen pauses, "What is sad is that it has been in front of her fan's faces this whole time and no one ever realized it – instead a lot of people ridiculed her when she reappeared after the war solo under the Strata name, but that didn't seem to stop her popularity. The interview with the whole story is on Strata's site. I'm glad in a way that she didn't say anything until after that album was released because she has put out amazing album after amazing album and it shows that her heart and soul went into every song she wrote."

"I remember a lot of artists and bands after the Eve Wars were crying for pity." I saw more than enough of it in the magazines I passed, never mind what made its way onto the news – it was sickening. The ones that really lost were silent, but because they had the pull with the media, they got to tell their sob stories to try to win pity.

"Oh, the interview wasn't a cry for pity, but I know what you're talking about. Pretty much she just talked about her work. She was pretty vague when it came to questions about her personal life and how she felt about it. I liked how she got him to stop pestering her…she said something along the lines of 'I've said more than enough in my work.' She's going to keep working on her next album while she goes to school, but I think Ashes is the end of that set," the clerk looked up to where I was, but I had moved on to the alternative section to see if I could find the remaining music discs for the other albums he was talking about.

If the two music discs I have are any indication, I could use something motivational like that. I know she's in that void between punk rock and gothic rock, but for some reason, it works for me.

Having found the other two albums to finish off the set, I take all three to the cash register, waiting patiently for him to get over so I can check out. "Thanks for the information. It definitely puts this into a new light," I hold up the three discs as he makes his way behind the counter.

"No problem. I know I can talk forever about it, but I find it just so fascinating. There are very few bands and artists that I'll follow like that." Ringing up the items he inquires, "Is that all for today?"

Nodding, he gives me the total and soon I'm on my way again. I'm definitely feeling indulgent now having bought the three music discs and an abnormally sweet breakfast than what I'm use to. Well, I'll have to go out and get the parts for the controllers later today. Figuring out about when I should get back, my phone goes off.

Checking the caller ID, I sigh, "Yes, Wufei?" At least I had some time to myself.

"Maxwell, where are you? Winner has been worried since you weren't around for breakfast." I can tell that in his voice, there's a hint of annoyance at what I guess is having to humor Quatre.

"I went out for a walk. I'm on my way back now." In the background I can hear the blonde asking for the phone.

"Excuse me for a moment," was directed at me, but the next words were directed at the former Sandrock pilot as Chang's voice gets distant, "Maxwell is quite capable of taking care of himself. Next time get up early enough to go with him." He brings the phone back to him to talk to me again, "I apologize. Winner wouldn't stop hounding me until I called you and I wouldn't let him call. At least Barton has some sense in his head."

"Nah, it's okay. So who woke Quatre up today?" Though I highly doubt that either of them would have pulled the same stunt I did.

In the background, I can hear Trowa trying to distract his partner from trying to get the phone away from Wufei. "It was the smell of food. Barton says he's treating for lunch today – he and Winner want to go shopping to get some clothes since they didn't pack much."

"Sounds good. I was going to head off later anyway to get the materials I need to make the controllers." Hearing the blonde Arabian arguing with his taller, usually much more silent partner, I inquire, "Q's going to give me one hell of a tongue lashing when I get back, isn't he?"

"More like an interrogation, my friend. What's your ETA?" The sounds of the other two are fading, implying that Wufei is moving away from them to a quieter area.

I roll my eyes, "Joy…I figure within an hour. I'm not running back."

The sound of a door shutting is heard before he continues, "I wasn't expecting you to, Duo. Did you go anywhere interesting at least?"

His question will not only cover his curiosity, but also Quatre's when Chang informs him, not that it's a big secret anyway. "It didn't sound like anyone was up so I had a lovely chat with our neighbors, went to the coffee shop and the music store to kill time. Nothing special."

"You mean the café that's on the main road to the college center? I haven't been there. Perhaps next time you go I could join you." It sounds like the former pilot of Nataku has a genuine interest, but it's hard to discern over the phone.

Though until he mentioned it, I really hadn't realized I was that close to the main building for the college in town. "Yeah, that's the one. Nice little place."

"I better let you go…it sounds like Winner is starting to take control of the argument, and honestly, you don't want to let him get a hold of the phone." Chang must be going through hell with the guy.

"Sure thing, man. Thanks…I feel sorry for you, Wufei." He's been covering for me this whole time – it really isn't fair to him.

"Oh, and you're making dinner."

"What!" I look at the phone, realizing that he hung up on me. I guess it's only fair, but he could've asked me to do something other than that. Damn, now I've got trying to make supper hanging over my head. I'd just pick up something, but to be honest, even I'm getting tired of eating out.

Hey, I've been getting spoiled lately by Wufei's cooking, which didn't take long at all. Then again, sometimes he would bring Heero and me lunch if he made too much for himself or something like that.

I have a feeling that the head of the Winner Corporation is going to chew me out when I get back…

---

"Duo!" I had a feeling that this was coming, but he could have let me at least set foot back on the property first. "Where'd you go?" Thankfully the blonde decides to drop his voice to a reasonable level as he approaches me.

Holding up my bag from the music store, in which I had also stuffed that free newspaper, I respond, "You guys were sleeping and I was bored."

"Oooh…what did you get?" I open up the bag for him. "You've really got a thing for her, don't you?"

Shrugging in response, I explain, "Not so much as curiosity from what the store clerk told me about her work. Said it was an ongoing story or sorts from the other two I have."

"Renee worked really hard to get where she is. I really like this one," the blonde holds up the Ashes album, "I was in the studio when she recorded a couple of the songs. Very powerful."

Doing the math quickly, I derive, "Let me guess, the Winner Corporation is the one sponsoring her."

Quatre acts like he's been caught red handed, "Yeah…remember how I said one of the company investments introduced me to that game – it was her. She seems to have it in her mind that she has to repay us for some reason from when my father had taken over the contracts for Strata after what happened and brought Robert up to a hospital near the corporate headquarters and also has been paying for the ongoing reconstructive surgery for her."

"Small world…you know, I was wondering how you got those special tickets to that concert." I know the little guy is one hell of a businessman, but I never really figured how broad his company's holdings were nor what kind of interests they had. "Well, let me run upstairs really quick and we'll head out – Wufei said you guys needed to go clothes shopping." So do I, to be honest, but that can wait.

Doing as I said, by the time I get back outside, Wufei is arguing with Quatre about who is driving. Trowa is just standing off to the side not getting into the middle of it.

Approaching the silent one standing between the two cars, I ask, "Hey, want to get going? I'm sure we'll be there and back and those two will still be going at it." I signal at my truck and continue heading in that direction.

"Sounds good," he responds, following my lead, taking shotgun before the other two catch on.

The sound of the doors closing grabs the attention of the bickering couple. "Hey! Don't leave us behind!" Quatre cries, running to quickly jump in the backseat behind his tall companion.

Wufei moves at a more sedate pace, "Thank you for ending that."

"Anytime," I smirk starting the Jeep, "Where do you guys want to go?" Even though I don't have an answer yet, I'm already backing out of the driveway. This is really fucking weird having passengers – I'm not use to having anyone in the passenger's seat never mind also occupying most of my backseat.

Once I'm on the road and moving forward, I pop in the music disc that the blonde said he liked. I figure if it has a classical lover like him interested, it's got to be good. There's nothing wrong with classical – I like it myself to a degree, but Strata is anything but classical.

"Should probably just head towards where everything is and we'll figure it out when we get closer," Chang states quietly from the backseat. Glancing in the rearview mirror, I can tell he's trying to ignore Winner's bouncing and lip-syncing to the song.

"How much sugar did you feed him this morning?" I'd ask if he was drunk, but I think he follows his religion rather strictly and won't touch alcohol.

"None. He woke up hyper," the Chinese man groaned.

"Hey!"

Really though…Quatre has been acting fucking weird since he got here. At first I passed it off as jet lag and being sleep deprived, but either he's gone whacky due to spending way too much time in the boardroom or something is up. And do I ever hate to be kept in the dark.

Darkness is good as long as I'm volunteering to be hiding in it, but to be kept in it in terms of needing information…it sucks royally.

Though Trowa has been a bit odd as well, he hasn't been as off the wall as his partner. It's one of those understandable change types of odd that I just haven't gotten use to yet.

I have a feeling Une is using them as well to keep an eye on me. Wufei seems for the most part genuine, but at the same time, it feels like I'm being watched and evaluated. Why can't I just deal with the shrink…at least her I can manipulate without feeling guilty.

Okay, so maybe I'd feel a little guilty, but with her it's a professional thing – if I did it to the guys, it would end up being personal, and I really don't want to do that.

While the other three discuss where they want to go, I partially listen with the rest of my attention on the road and on the music. I take direction from them in terms of where to go, and being a good little chauffeur, I do as I'm told, staying silent for the most part except where a response is needed.

Finding a parking space at the end of all the other vehicles, I follow them getting out, watching Chang usher Winner towards the clothing store. After making sure that my truck is locked, I trail behind, Barton coming up at my side. "Is everything okay? You've been rather quiet."

"Huh?" Yeah, guess I was, but there's a time for talking and a time for quiet, "I think Quatre has been noisy enough for three of me, but honestly, I was just mostly trying to listen to the music. I've heard some of the songs in passing on the radio, but there's a lot on that one that I haven't heard."

"Point taken."

Trowa and I never really got friendly like I did with the others. Well, Heero is somewhat relative. Might have something to do with that he destroyed Deathscythe, but even still, I can't truly blame him for that one. We're just very different from each other I think is all that it comes down to in the end.

I know for one thing, I have more self-preservation than to stand in front of a target and let someone throw knives at me.

Inside the store, Quatre heads off in one direction with Trowa not far behind and I slowly meander my way around, taking some interest in a few shirts here and some pants there. It's getting warmer so maybe I should get some shorts. Though perhaps it would be best if I came back on my own, though this is a bit on the too nice side for me.

"You might as well make use of this trip," Wufei states as he comes up on the other side of the rack from me. "I personally would not want to have to make another trip out here for this."

"You made me take an extra trip for groceries," I shoot back.

"That was different…you didn't get enough the first time," black eyes lock onto mine. "Get something – I'm sure you could use new clothes seeing as you're nearly back to wearing parts of your usual uniform."

Glancing down at my attire, I had grabbed the cream colored shirt that I had originally gotten as part of my uniform and paired it off with a pair of jeans that showed that had some stains that refused to go away from when I would work on any of our vehicles. It was nice being the house grease monkey, but it took its toll on my clothes sometimes. "Yeah, I guess I could, but I can just stop at the consignment shop during the week."

"You're already here and you can afford it, not that it is a particularly expensive place anyway. Donate your old clothes that don't fit and that are in good condition to charity." Pulling a black shirt off the rack, he approaches me with it, holding it up as if trying to get an idea how it would look on me.

Dammit…does he have to appeal to both the side that would rather not make the extra trip and the side that wants to do whatever I can for people. I settle for just glaring at him.

"You like black, right?" he asks, not bothering to wait for an answer before pushing the shirt into my hands and going back to look at other racks.

Honestly, I like other colors as well, but I never really gave up wearing black since I am and always will be Shinigami. There's a shade of blue that I wouldn't mind, but I'm not going to finish that thought right now.

Two more shirts, two pairs of jeans, and a pair of shorts later, Chang is directing me towards the changing room. Why did I let him pick out clothes for me like that? I mean, I have no problem with them…actually, what he picked out kind of suits my weird style well, but…it's the principle of the matter.

Though at least he also has a couple of items in his hands. Come to think of it, I haven't seen Quatre or Trowa for awhile, but then again, I guess that is somewhat to be expected since the little guy is comfortable in chinos and a dress shirt. I know personally I don't care for it, but that's the uniform I choose…correction, chose to wear.

So I like things with high collars, even though lately I've been wearing t-shirts since I was forced on vacation. Trying on one set of clothes, my mind begins to chew on the fact that things have been moving rather quickly and quite smoothly, most likely meaning that this was planned ahead of time. Did Wufei know about this? Heero?

I wasn't even allowed to work as Yuy's check-in for this mission like I have in the past for other solo missions. There is no true solo mission because you always have a contact with someone who will keep contact with the office, but this time they assigned someone else to my roommate. Maybe he requested it be that way. Maybe he saw my incompetence a kilometer away and this is his way of avoiding it. Looking in the mirror, I see way beyond the clothes that I'm trying on. I see the dirty street-rat that no one wanted, and for obvious reasons.

"Maxwell, how do they fit?"

Fingering the collar of the t-shirt, I note that the design on it is kind of cool, but… "I don't know, man…"

"Get out here if you want a second opinion." Bossy, isn't he?

In turn for his opinion, I give him mine of what he also has picked up. His taste is impeccable as always – it took me a little while to get use to seeing him outside of his cultural clothes when I first got to Preventer headquarters.

I asked him once why he wore white since he was fighting and I would think it would be a color to avoid due to it getting dirty easily. He told me it was similar to the reason I wore black. The only difference is that he was still remembering his late wife, Meiran, where as I was the self-proclaimed God of Death since everyone that I cared about died. Apparently Meiran had called herself Nataku, which cleared up why Chang called the Shenlong and Altron by that rather than by the names that whatever mad scientist he trained with called them.

That definitely gave me a new appreciation for the Chinese man.

Finishing up our tasks, I wind up with three new sets of clothes, though with having to go back to get smaller sizes for my pants since I'm more scrawny than Chang thought. We pause to see if we can locate the other two, but give up and check out.

I think I've spent more money today than I have in the past month on little luxuries. My perspective of luxury is a little skewed – I know that, but then again, whose isn't?

Popping the glass on the back hatch, we stash our purchases in the trunk area before getting in and waiting for the other two. This time however, Wufei takes shotgun, and we both keep an eye on the storefront for our missing passengers.

I break the silence first, "Do you know where else they had in mind?"

"No idea. When I hung up with you, Winner finally went to take a shower and get dressed after I relayed your ETA. I have a feeling he fell asleep in there for awhile," black eyes never leave where they watch for said person and his companion.

Tapping my fingers on the steering wheel impatiently, I inquire, "Is it just my imagination or has Quatre been acting really weird since he got here?"

"I thought I was the only one that noticed," it's a combination of relief and paranoia.

Sounds like there are things that are going on that even Wufei hasn't found out about yet. "I can only imagine the conversation that he had with Une before they left L4."

A grunt is the only response I get as the two finally emerge from the store. It isn't a huge store, so I don't know how we seemed to have lost them, but hopefully it made them panic when they couldn't find us either. At least it wasn't overly busy in there, well, not in the men's department anyway.

Sliding in behind Wufei, Quatre asks innocently, "Did you guys get anything?"

"Yes, we just didn't dawdle like you, Winner." Chang looks behind the seat at the blonde who is tucking the bags in at his feet.

"You can toss them in the back with ours – I know there isn't a lot of room in the backseat," I offer, starting up my truck and glancing at Trowa and then his slightly more calmed down partner in the rearview mirror to make sure that they get settled.

Getting the information for our next destination, I set off for the restaurant. I somewhat feel sorry for Wufei now, having to put up with those two. Mostly Q anyway…Tro seems to be okay. Kind of amusing though to see Trowa have to fold up a bit to fit in the backseat.

We all grew a bit more after the wars, but he definitely got a lot of height. I feel short standing next to him, though I can only imagine what Quatre and Wufei feel like if they even notice it since they're shorter than myself and Heero.

It's rather amusing with the blonde Arabian since if I remember correctly, I believe his father was a tall guy and his sisters are all taller than he is.

Finding a parking spot again at the end of all the other cars, the L4 businessman questions, "Do you always park so far away?"

I turn to look at him and then Chang before turning back to him, "Quatre, it isn't that far. It's maybe thirty meters."

"Apparently Winner needs the walk – he's getting lazy," the Chinese man chimes in.

"I am not!" The blonde then proceeds to defend himself all the way to the door of the restaurant. Barton takes over and tries to calm his partner down, giving Chang a chance to come and hang back with me.

"He really is acting fucking weird," I state quietly.

A black eye slides over to glance at me briefly, "While I tend to not use profanity very often, I believe your description is quite accurate."

Blink, er… "Wufei, you swear at me all the time."

"An exception."

I'm half tempted to comment that I feel so loved that I'm an exception, but having entered the restaurant, I bite my tongue on that one as we head over to take a seat to wait with the other two.

We proceed through lunch talking about the most mundane things, all of it clearly avoiding anything Preventer related. It only fuels my theories that they are under orders to keep me in the dark. Cripes, they could at least say if they've heard how Heero's doing so I can gauge when he'll return exactly. Sure I have the mission completion date, but this is my partner we're talking about here…if he can finish early, he will damn well do it. Might as well add another gold star to his record, right?

I've got a big black mark on mine now. Why couldn't I have just played by the rules? Then I would've just gotten a little black mark on my training record.

Walking back towards the Jeep, I ask, "I need to stop at the hardware store, do you guys want me to drop you off at the house first?" Sure it would be out of my way, but I can understand them not wanting to accompany me.

"We dragged you clothes shopping," Barton quietly reminds me from where he managed to get shotgun again.

"There are a few things I've been meaning to get to fix different areas of my apartment," Chang adds his vote, climbing into the backseat behind me.

"You've been kind enough to drive us around today – it wouldn't be fair of us to ask you to take us all the way back only to have to come out to this area again," the kind, gentle look I get from Quatre reminds me of how he was a lot during the wars. It's one of the faces that I couldn't refuse. Well, not easily anyway.

"If you guys insist…" I had kind of been hoping that they would've taken me up on the offer.

It doesn't take me long to get to the store and again, I find a parking space a decent distance from the door, but this time no one says anything. Kind of funny in that this is much further away than the other one.

Wufei signals that he's going to head off to find what he needs and I watch Trowa follow him, but…I turn and find Quatre smiling at me. "So, what do you need here?"

Damn… "Well…lets see now…" I begin listing off the items that are on the list in my head, which is kind of pathetic since I can't keep a grocery list in my head, but I could rattle off what I would need to make one of my house special explosives without having to think much about it. "I'll have to see about picking up a few more controllers, but that can come later."

"What are you making?" I can't tell if the blonde is truly interested or gathering information.

It's not like I'm making anything that could be harmful, so I bite…besides, he'll stumble across it eventually more than likely anyway. "Hilde asked me to make a couple new controllers for that game we were playing last night. The kids completely destroyed one set that I had given them a long time ago – they were the same ones that I have, not the one that I had built them."

"Kids?" he asks, following not far behind me as I push yet another evil carriage around. Wonder if I can make him push it around instead…

Nosey little bastard, "Just some kids at an orphanage on L2. We'd go and volunteer with them occasionally – usually for their Games Day, but sometimes we'd drop in if there wasn't anything pressing going on at the scrap yard."

Pausing with the cart, I move away from it to go look at what I can use for the buttons. I think I'd like to make these light up. Smirking internally as he goes up to the back of the carriage and leans on it, I hope that I can get him to somehow volunteer to stay there and push it around. I'm so cruel.

"I never knew you did that. You're a really kind person, Duo."

I turn to look back over my shoulder at him with a package of buttons that I'm considering using, my braid gently slapping my thigh from the movement before settling back down where it belongs. Turning back to inspect the package more carefully, I toss back, "I really wouldn't say that." I'm the human version of Death, remember? Death isn't kind.

Putting the package back and picking up another one, his voice floats back to me, "I would. I don't know many people who would give their time let alone take the time and money to personally make something for those less fortunate than themselves."

"I have a lot of time right now, Quatre. I might as well do something and I figure that this is good as any since I have the skills." Who am I kidding…I live for stuff like this. I miss just messing around with mechanics and electronics.

I can feel those light blue eyes on my back, studying me. "On the contrary, Duo, you're actually using your skills from your first job to make a difference in people's lives. It may seem insignificant, but eventually these children that you use to volunteer with will take their place in society and they will remember the generosity that you showed them and will do the same for others in some way."

Picking up enough packages to have the right amount of buttons for three dual controllers, I toss them into the cart and continue to walk down the isle, finding amusement that he just began following me with it. Mission complete…well, if I can get him to stay there. "I really don't see how playing video games with kids can make the difference in the world as you're suggesting."

"You would be surprised," is the only response I get. And here I had been hoping for an actual explanation – I should really know better. "Do you have any pictures?"

Huh? "Um…yeah. Hilde is suppose to be sending me some from the last one."

"No, I meant when you were there with them," the slightly reprimanding tone in his voice has both my attention and somewhat irritated.

They use to be on my desk at work, but I brought them with me, didn't I? I haven't pulled them out of my bag. Well, it's not all the pictures I have, just a few of the ones I printed out. I have a small photo albums going of my favorites, but I have all of the files plus a few videos tucked away in a safe place where I can pull them up whenever I want. "Yeah, I have some," if you could classify a couple hundred as some.

I pick up more odds and ends items as we go, Quatre continuing to ask questions the whole way. I feel like I'm having the same conversation that I had yesterday with Wufei. It's not like it was a big secret or anything…I just never talked about it. Probably because I knew that I would miss it.

Not even bothering to see if I can find Trowa and Wufei before I check out, the young CEO of the Winner Corporation asks me rather innocently, "Can I see the pictures when we get back?"

Suddenly I feel a little apprehensive about sharing even though honestly, I had the pictures on my desk forever hoping that someone would ask me about them. While I never talked about it on my own, if someone asked me, I would have. It's just now I'm such a huge failure…

"Duo?"

Blinking, I pull out my mask from the days when I was fighting for the peace of the colonies, I smile and respond cheerfully, "Sure thing, man."

The look he gives me is unsettling, but I don't question him as my turn in line comes up. Once we get outside and find the other two waiting, I notice that they look back at the blonde behind me as if he's signaling them. It isn't much of a movement, just a shifting of the eyes.

I don't much care seeing as I have my hands full with the wood and most of the other stuff – Q took the rest so we didn't have to push the carriage from hell out here. I don't know…I just don't like carriages. They're evil and they're out to get me. Okay, so I'm evil as well, and evil attracts evil and all, but…yeah, it's stupid.

Once everything is loaded and we start heading back, the silence is deafening. If it weren't for the music playing, I'd be babbling incessantly just to fill the void. Instead I'm as silent as the rest, feeling the other three watching me intently. It makes me just want to run…run as far and as fast away from everyone as I can and find a hiding spot where they will never find me.

"What are you making, Duo?" Trowa's quiet voice cuts through the silence like a hot knife through butter.

Please don't let me have to repeat myself a third time. I play dumb, "Huh?" So close to getting back to the house.

"Wufei said you were making supper tonight. I was wondering what you were making."

Blink, er…shit. Forgot about that. Damn you, Chang, for opening your mouth. "Geez, we just ate a little while ago. I honestly haven't thought about it."

"Does that mean we can put in requests?" Quatre grins at me from his spot in the backseat. I wonder if the other two keep herding him into that spot to try and keep him further away from me. On second thought, they left me with him at the hardware store – I retract my comment.

"No." Maybe I should try to turn the tables and corner him to find out what the hell is up with him. If nothing else, it'll give me something to do since he's rarely without his tall, silent companion. Shoot, I had such a perfect opportunity earlier. Well, no, I'd rather not try to get him to fess up in public.

Or maybe Trowa can tell me…

"Well, you're no fun," the blonde pouts, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Cut the drama, Winner," the Chinese man chides, "You nor Barton have attempted to cook yet."

Trowa doesn't even turn around to look at his partner, "He has a point, Quatre. Duo and Wufei have been kind enough to cook for us."

Pulling into the driveway seems to stop the further arguments. I pop many things before I get out, namely the music disc out of the player and the back window so everyone can grab their stuff.

Hopping out, I notice our neighbors pulling into their driveway next door. Remembering who wore what color when they left this morning, I notice that Sienna is driving this time instead of Sierra. The younger sister sees me and waves excitedly. Waving back, I notice Sierra getting out of the truck slowly, drenched in sweat, making her bangs stick out more than normal. Chang also pauses in getting out, both of us looking at each other momentarily before shutting our doors and heading over to the girls while Quatre and Trowa try to figure out what belongs to who in the back of the truck.

"How was it?" I ask almost a little too cheerfully. Need to tone that down.

"Stupid chair…" is all I hear the elder sister mutter.

Sienna laughs, "Don't mind Sierra. It all went well until someone thought it would be funny to use a plastic chair in the three-person randori. Though I personally thought it was amusing to watch as well as the rest of the dojo. In any case, she's a bona fide shodan now."

"Congratulations, Archer," Wufei holds his hand out to her.

"That's awesome! Congrats!" At least I've turned the cheer level is turned down as the other two abandon the Jeep and come over to join us. Honestly though, I really do think it's great – at least someone is making progress in their lives.

Taking his hand, she moves closer to him and I barely hear her whisper, "Thanks, Wufei."

Awe, I think Chang is trying to fight down a blush. I'll have to harass him later when the other guys aren't around. Though it might be amusing to get the other two going on him, I think a little discretion is the better part of valor here.

After a quick introduction to Trowa and Quatre, we head our separate ways as Sierra expresses a desire to find a shower and bed.

I bring my purchases from the hardware store into the garage and find a quiet, dry corner to stash everything – I'll get started on the base of the controllers tomorrow after I find my notes. Grabbing the clothes out of the back of my truck, I close the window and lock it, finding that I'm the last one to be heading into the house. Shrugging to no one, I head in and straight up, only pausing to close doors behind me.

Making my way to my bedroom, I sit down on the bed with the bag of clothes, staring at it for a moment before opening it and pulling each item out one at a time. It just feels weird having actually bought something from not out of a consignment shop. I mean, it isn't like I've never gotten new clothes before – it's just not common for me. At one point, I was really being indulgent once I had my freedom, but still, I tended to buy cheaper items and stuff on sale. There was that one shirt that Quatre coerced me into getting at the concert though.

Before I put them aside, I pull the tags off and fold them to be put away. I should probably do laundry tomorrow. I'm going to be in the garage for quite a bit then anyway so it works out nicely 'cause otherwise I tend to forget that I put it in there.

My line of sight falls on my bag – the one that I've ignored since I left HQ. Snatching it up, I open it and immediately pull out the picture frames, pausing to inspect each image before pulling out the next one. There are only three of them so it doesn't take long.

Holding them carefully, I walk the two steps over to my desk and find empty spaces to arrange them there. I had originally planned to leave them in my bag until I went back to the office, but if my own comrades are being ordered to spy on me…well, I really shouldn't be getting comfortable, but if only for a little while. Heero isn't due back for another ten days and they won't take long to pack up anyway.

Turning, I head towards a small bookcase that Yuy insisted I have, pulling one of the small photo albums off that has taken up residence there. Plopping down on my bed, avoiding the neatly folded clothes, I crack it open, smiling at the groups picture that makes up the first page. This is one that the kids made for Hilde and me. I think they said it was a scrapbook – I'm not sure if that was a joke on the fact that I worked in a scrap yard or not.

Hilde made me take it with me…I made the other photo albums while I was here. It's something that the guys don't know about and it kind of feels like a dirty little secret, but I would take a weekend off every few months to spend it locked in my room, working on an album. I wasn't trying to hide, it…then again, with the way I would basically go into seclusion, maybe I was. I'm not ashamed of it, but it isn't the image that the guys have of me. So it was my secret I guess even though I had the pictures on my desk.

Walking contradiction anyone? I certainly just confused myself.

Sinking back on the bed, I hold the album open in front of me, over my head. What exactly did I give up when I joined the Preventers? What would I be doing right now if I hadn't joined? I lose myself in the various paths I could have taken for I don't know how long as I flip through the book until I look over at the alarm clock.

Sitting up quickly, I remember something I'm supposed to be doing…making supper. Dammit, I don't even know what.

Before I realize it, I'm back on my feet and hustling to the kitchen to start flipping through the cookbook that I had bookmarked, trying to match what I have to what I can make.

Paging through to the next one that I had stuck a sticky note on, I find another little yellow note stuck to written in Chinese, making me pause in my frantic search to translate it. I don't think there's anything pressing enough that he couldn't have written it in English.

"_I would suggest this one for Sunday's dinner_." Plucking the offensive little yellow piece of paper off the page, I debate the sanity in stapling this to Chang's forehead and then I laugh. He made my life pretty simple now…I wasn't sure why he was so adamant about me picking up certain things during our last trip to the grocery store.

Setting about my appointed task, I snag the music disc I had been playing in my truck earlier and pop it into the player in the kitchen. There was a song on it that had kind of caught my interest, but I don't know which track it was. I like it as a whole, but this one just had something that had tried to grab my attention…too bad the guys were distracting me from really listening to it.

Then again, I'm still somewhat distracted, I mentally note, reading through the book to see what I need and what I need to do.

---

Looking at the finished product distastefully, I shrug and put it on the hotplate on the table. This is what happens when you leave me alone to do this. I quickly set the table and turn the music off. Honestly, I had expected one or more of them to have wandered up here by now.

Grabbing my keys out of habit, I head downstairs to find out if they changed their minds. Trowa answers the door a few moments after I knock. "Um…I've got supper ready if you guys are hungry. If you can call it supper." It really didn't look all that good.

"Sure thing." He gives me the one moment sign, explaining quickly, "Wufei and Quatre are arguing again."

That I could hear rather plainly, but who knows, could be a heated discussion, though I'm not quite sure what the difference is.

Waiting patiently by the door, Quatre bounds in my direction moments later. "Pictures!"

What the fuck! Damn, I was hoping he would forget, but I should know better than to hope. "Uh, actually I came down here to say that there's something upstairs trying to pass itself off as edible."

"Winner, I'm going to take a tranquilizer gun to you if you don't calm down!" Chang calls from the other room.

"Yeah, Q. I'm supposed to be the one who is all hyper and crazy. You're hurting my reputation," I laugh at my own pathetic joke.

"Sorry," the blonde apologizes quickly.

Ruffling his hair, I head upstairs as Wufei and Trowa become visible. This is better…this is more like me. Now if only I can keep this up.

The food is more of a success than I predicted. I guess looks aren't everything, but then again, I knew that already, but I was still under the impression that presentation was a good portion of it. Maybe that's why I could stomach the cafeteria food when no one else seemed to want to touch it.

Not that I just made a whole lot of sense there. Ah well…

Bringing the plates over to be washed, Quatre reminds me, "So, do I get to see those pictures now?"

Chang beats me in replying, "No, Winner, you are going to wash the dishes."

While the blonde turns those sad blue eyes on the Chinese man, I respond quickly to end all arguments, "It's okay, Wufei, I can take care of it."

"Quatre and I will do the dishes. It's the least we can do for your hospitality," Barton knocks down my attempt at ending the conversation.

The two take over for me, leaving me open to be ushered out of the kitchen by Chang. Once clear of the room, he questions, "So what is this talk about pictures?"

I laugh, shaking my head and just start heading down towards my room to go get one of the albums. A shadow follows on my heels. I enter to quickly grab the one on my bed, but he follows, not allowing me to just grab it before anyone can see my little corner.

I'm a little peeved at the fact that he didn't ask, but all the same, I guess in a way, I led him in here. "At least you decorated a little," Wufei notes, looking at the pictures on my desk.

What's the point of decorating at all if I'm only going to be leaving soon. "Those are the ones I had on my desk at the office. I didn't know who was going to be covering so I took them with me."

The look he gives me is that if I had even known it was going to be Trowa and Quatre, would I really have left them behind? I shrug in response, holding the one album with both hands and glance over at the bookcase, debating if I should grab the others or not. There are a lot of them now that I look at it. One per year if I remember how I compiled them correctly.

"Is that the only one?" I can't lie to Chang, but…I'm not sure when things became so personal. I shake my head. "Bring the others as well. You know Winner is only going to hound you until you show him all of them."

"He's only interested in ones from a certain time period," I correct, but compromise at the same time, grabbing the other two that consist of the images that the blonde expressed a desire to view.

Snagging one of the two I grabbed off the shelf, his curiosity gets the better of him as he flips through it, "Did you put all of this together, Duo?"

"Heh, yeah. Guess it's kind of dorky of me, but…" I shrug.

Taking the lead out of the room, Wufei continues to flip back and forth through it, "No, this is rather impressive. When did you make these?"

Closing the door behind me, I reply before my mind can filter the response, "On the weekends that I took off and locked myself in my room. This one," I tap my fingers on the bottom of the two books I'm carrying, "I didn't make – it's where I got the idea to do the others."

"You took weekends off once in awhile?" Chang asks jokingly, "I thought your vehicle just decided to come home."

"Har…you can kiss my ass," I smirk at the Chinese man, finding a comfortable spot on the floor around the coffee table to sit down with the books.

"No, thank you, I'll leave that particular honor to Yuy."

Feeling the color drain from my face, I kick myself because I know that there's nothing I can do about it and I can't even come up with some cocky line to distract him.

Knowing that we're quite possibly within earshot of the other two, the expression on his face asks me if I'm okay. If okay consists of fearing the damage I've caused to the relations between my roommate and myself, then yeah.

Waving him off, I hear the water turn off, meaning that those two are nearly done. It's only too soon that they join us and then the questions begin.

While normally I wouldn't mind a trip down memory lane, this just for some reason feels like an invasion of privacy, but then again, I opened myself up to this. Quatre is obviously the most vocal, but oddly enough Trowa throws out a more than fair share of inquiries. Wufei remains silent for the most part, apparently content to listen to the interrogation I'm getting from the other two.

Eventually Chang reminds them of the fact that they all have to get up and go to work tomorrow, though he tries to be a little more discreet in his wording.

Cleaning up the area after they leave, I realize that the ones that the kids made for Hilde and me was never opened and never left my lap. In a way, I think I'm grateful. There are a lot of stories in here that I just don't want to tell right now.

Getting back to my room, I put everything away, including the clothes on my bed, snagging my laptop and curling up on my bed with it to check my email.

It certainly has been a long and very odd weekend. It seems like there are a lot of coincidences occurring, but maybe it's just me noticing for the first time exactly how disconnected I am from the network that surrounds me. After all the things I've done, I'm still only a part of the shadows.  
----------  
Fin  
by JeiC  
August 2006  
---  
Author's Notes: I may be delayed for the next few chapters due to major projects and mid-terms coming up. I will do what I can to stay to my two week schedule, but…if I don't get it done on time, I apologize in advance.  
Also, I cross-post this on deviantart, and Eikou Studios.  
As for what is up with the coincidences that are happening with Duo…yeah, sometimes real life is a good source of ideas. Though it was kinda freaky that I posted chapter 3 and the next time I went to the dojo, sensei spoke with me about taking my 6th Kyu test (yes, I am very low ranking).  
Now on Strata…as for what Strata sounds like, think Lacuna Coil, Evanescence, Within Temptation, and Nightwish, though not so opera-ish sounding…definitely more Lacuna Coil and Evanescence than the other two, but there are elements in there as well as elements from Linkin Park. Okay, so those are the bands that I get most of my inspiration from for her. Renee (aka Phoenix) is one of the characters that has been waiting for her debut in the fic she's meant to be in, but I keep putting it off. A lot of things have changed since Muzai Naru and I had originally been discussing the idea of co-writing that and needless to say, I'm running solo now with that story.  
Sierra and Sienna are two more that need to be written into their stories. I had started it a long time ago, but I'm not happy with it so it's on the back burner as well. Though the reference I made to someone using a plastic chair in a three-person randori is a true story and it was for a black belt test. I couldn't resist using it here. I of course didn't tell the whole story because it just didn't fit given the situation.

On a side note:  
I think I've cosplayed Duo as a Preventer too much lately. hugs her Preventer jacket

Special thanks to:  
**Yaruna, Susan, Amy, and anf600:** Thanks so much for the reviews guys…they help me a lot in terms of knowing what I'm doing that you guys like and what I may need to clarify on. I'm having a ton of fun with Wufei…wanting to kick Quatre for not behaving.  
**Carol:** Also a thank you for the review. As for your suggestions…well, we'll just have to see what happens, won't we?  
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	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I really should just make one catch-all disclaimer and use it all the time, but alas, I write a new one every time. So it's gonna be the same old I don't own Gundam Wing or Evanescence, but I did write this story so please keep my name on it if you're gonna pass it along.  
Author's Notes: Notes at the end.  
Warnings: angst, language, yaoi implications

**Away From Me  
****Chapter 5**

by JeiC  
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_I've woken now to find myself  
__In the shadows of all I have created  
---  
_I wonder what would happen if I didn't set the alarm…really, I wonder if I would sleep later – probably not. Turning it off before it goes off, I lie on my back and stare at the ceiling. All I really have is another day of idleness ahead of me. Sure, I have that project plus another meeting with the shrink, but really, the only pressing thing for me to do today is laundry.

This is just so not cool.

Closing my eyes for a moment, I try to find the motivation to get going. Lingering in bed for a good ten to fifteen minutes, I finally start moving to get my day started. I think if it wasn't for the fact that I was going to be having a guest again, I would have tried to go back to sleep.

Dragging my sorry ass to take a shower and get dressed for the day, I get as far as brushing my hair before I collapse on the sofa in the living room. Just feel so drained…might have something to do with I kept waking up every fifteen minutes to half an hour. I really don't know why either.

Hearing a knock at the door, I'm on my feet and moving there before my mind can protest the action. Quickly pulling a hair elastic out of my pocket, I simply tie my hair back in a ponytail at the nape of my neck before finding out who my early morning visitor is.

An emerald green eye stares back at me. "Hey, Tro…what brings you up here at this hour of the morning? Even the sun hasn't gotten up yet." I feel like I should know the answer to this and I probably do, but I really don't care right now.

"Breakfast is almost ready." Ah, yes, that would be the thing I would know but couldn't remember.

Reaching around the door to grab my keys, I nod and follow him out the door. "You know, having a large breakfast every morning is starting spoil me." Okay, so I didn't eat a lot yesterday, but eating breakfast period is something I normally don't do.

"I would agree, but Quatre is use to having one," he eyes me just before opening the door to Wufei's apartment. Normally I think I would care about the weird look he gives me, but right now, I honestly don't give a damn. I want to know what the hell is wrong with me.

"Maxwell, you look like shit."

What was that Chang was saying yesterday about preferring not to swear? Oh yeah, I'm an exception. I flip him off and take a seat at the table once I notice that it has already been set.

Barton places a cup of black coffee in front of me, or tries to anyway as I wave him off, "Please, I find that stuff to be as bad as I apparently look." I could use the caffeine, but I'm not that desperate right now. I would need a lot of milk in it to make it bearable.

It doesn't seem to faze him as he puts it down at another setting. A moment later, I notice the head of the Winner Corporation is having the same issue I am, but the difference is that he picks up the cup of coffee and downs about half of it. First of all, that has to be hot. Second, I'm getting grossed out somewhat that he just drank the foul smelling liquid without any cream or sugar. Most things don't gross me out, but that's one, and Heero setting his own leg is another.

I can't help but laugh as he shudders, probably just realizing what he did. Then he downs the other half of the mug. "Quatre, you know you don't have to swallow it whole."

"Yes, I do. It'll wake me up faster." Closing his eyes and leaning back, he doesn't seem to notice Trowa refilling his mug, but once his taller companion puts the coffee pot back, he brings the freshly filled beverage to his lips, taking it only remotely slower than the first one.

Raising an eyebrow, I inquire, "I thought you were a tea person."

"I like both."

Shrugging, I reach for the orange juice sitting on the table and fill the glass at my setting. After a few sips, I realize that Trowa is helping Wufei with making breakfast. I should be there instead, but right now, I'm hoping that I'll have enough energy to get back upstairs later. Have not felt this drained since the last time OZ beat the shit out of me, wait, no, that was Master O, wasn't it? If memory serves me right, I think that was Chang's mad scientist.

Ugh…this sucks.

Breakfast continues on quietly with minimal chatter and quickly since they really can't be hanging around long. It doesn't even strike me that they were in Preventer attire sans the jackets all morning until after they leave.

Feeling a little more conscious, I set about finding my notes for the controllers, getting my laundry ready in the process. Once I have everything collected, I head downstairs to the garage.

Getting the first part of my laundry started, I open the garage door furthest away from the house, which happens to be the door that my truck is parked in front of. It's kind of funny – we've got this nice, big garage and the only things that we park in here are the bikes. Even Wufei got in on the idea with Heero and I to get a motorcycle for emergency purposes, though we'll take them out occasionally for a ride.

It works out okay though because it leaves me with plenty of room to work. Guess later this week I could see about doing some work on the Jeep that I've been wanting to for a long time.

Hitting the radio to help me pass the time, I pause in my work to wash my hands and change the clothes over, getting the second load started. Eventually, both loads are finish, folded, and just waiting to go back upstairs as I keep working on getting one of the cases cut out and most of it assembled except for the bottom where I'll need to keep it open to do the wiring.

"Duo!" Someone shouts from the open garage door as soon as the saw is off in order to be heard over the radio.

Turning to see my evaluator/advocate standing there with a somewhat worried look on her face, I push the protective glasses up on my head and glance at the clock on the wall and then my watch. "Sorry about that…guess I lost track of time." Signaling for her to enter, I power everything down completely, taking the glasses off my head and putting them on the table I had been working on.

I can sense her entering cautiously as I hit the power on the radio. Yay, I made the shrink nervous. "Dare I ask what you're making?" Her body language tells me that unless it doesn't look like whatever she thinks it is, it's going to be a huge black mark against me getting back to work.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to prove it to her, which means digging out pictures as well as probably one of the official controllers I have. "I promised a bunch of kids I know that I'd make them new video game controllers." Closing the door to the garage, I pick up my laundry before heading towards the door to enter the house. "So, how was your weekend, Agent Reilly…um, sorry, Nora?" I'm not about to mention that the slip was purposeful either.

The out of uniform Preventer laughs lightly, "And here I was hoping that if I came in civilian clothes it would make things easier. My weekend wasn't bad, just busy. I take work home far too much."

Let the games begin, "Oh, don't do that, then they'll have to send someone to visit you." Giving her a one-minute sign, I head down the hallway to drop my clothes off in my room and grab one of the picture frames off my desk…it beats pulling out a whole album. "Again, sorry about that. Please, make yourself comfortable. Would you like anything to drink?"

Getting a couple glasses of water, I come back and find that we're in the same places that we were on Friday. I pass over the photograph, commenting, "I figure it sounded strange so this is my proof that I'm not crazy. They destroyed the ones I had given them before I built the one in the picture for them."

Again, I repeat the story that I told the guys, but this time, I make sure that I direct the conversation with my answers, which ends up making the line of questioning a lot shorter.

Taking my picture back, Reilly asks, "So, shall we get started?" Flipping open her notebook, and paging through some notes she had made, the shrink continues, "I've been going over your records. You didn't start becoming a work-a-holic with the Preventers until about six months after you joined."

"I'll be honest, you would know better than I would remember." Really, why would I keep track of something like that? Sure, I didn't really get started right away with the Preventer Corp since they kind of didn't know what to do with Heero and me for a little while after the initial incident.

"Does the drug trafficking case in Moscow, AC 197, make it a little more recognizable?" I can feel deep brown eyes look up at me to see my reaction.

Pausing for a moment, I mentally recall everything about that case. Normally, I'd ask her who was involved, but that wasn't a small sting and the only one that I've had in Moscow. "It was a big operation that Heero and I headed. For security reasons, I can't say anymore about it, but I can tell you that there was a lot of paperwork that we had to do for it. I offered to stay late or work weekends to keep trying to get it done faster, but it seemed as soon as we finished one request, we got another. It backlogged us on cases so much that we just kept at it until we caught up."

Digging into her bag, she pulled out a piece of paper and pushed it across the coffee table to me. "Lady Une has given me security clearance to discuss various cases that you've handled since we're under a doctor-patient confidentiality agreement."

"Um, did I miss signing something because I don't remember that," some bastard better not have tried to forge my name on something, though, I admit, it works in my favor this time.

Blinking momentarily, she laughed, "Oh, no, you didn't. You don't need to sign anything – it's to keep me from talking to other people. The only person that I report to is Lady Une, but it is only to give her my professional opinion if we've settled the issues that she is concerned about."

"Oh…" Man, do I feel like an idiot. After quickly reading over the paperwork handed to me, I passed it back, "Well then, what would you like to talk about specifically?"

"Just retell the events in your own words including how you felt about everything you experienced." That's a tall order, girly.

Taking a sip of water, I get started, bouncing from mission facts and various details to my thoughts on Moscow and the climate.

It was cold and for the life of me, I could not warm up while I was there. Even though we had a pretty nice safe house with heat, it just could not take the chill out of the air and many nights Heero and I ended up sleeping together so we could share body heat. Neither of us worried about keeping watch because I am way too light of a sleeper and if woke up quickly, Yuy was up only moments later.

For the record, we didn't share anything other than body heat. I really wish I knew if he was cold also or was just putting up an act of being fine. I can handle cold, but not that freezing.

The mission itself went nice and smooth. Total textbook operation – I think I had made some off-hand comment that I wished all the bad guys went down so easily. Yuy came back with if we kept up with the preliminary work we did for this, then they all should.

The reason we ended up on it was due to the fact that I could converse in Russian fluently…reading was a bonus. After the wars, during the time I spent getting my high school diploma and beyond, I would sometimes sneak off to the library and it didn't matter the language, I would eventually learn to read it, but I was still working my way through the list of languages I was familiar with by the time Sally caught up with me. In any case, it made things easier living on L2.

It was a good setup since Yuy got to play the part of the silent roommate when we were out in public, and I was the friendly newbie to the area – saying that we were planning on studying at the Moscow State University. It was rather amusing to have to play translator for Heero when no one was around. Upon his request, I tutored him in what I knew so he wasn't completely in the dark as to what was going on until I translated it for him.

Though, on the off chance that someone was around when I was translating for him, I spoke to him in Japanese rather than English to throw off most would-be listeners. Even in the safehouse, we conversed in his native language. By the time we needed the rest of the team, there wasn't much need for a translator since all they needed was to go in and come out. I was the one coordinating between the Preventer Special Ops and the local police. Wufei and Sally had come with the team in which Chang complained to me afterwards about the headache I was giving him bouncing between Russian, English, and Japanese. Sally simply tugged on his little rat-tail sized ponytail and left at that point to help oversee the clean up. The look on his face was priceless.

I continued my story, and Nora kept jotting down notes every time something interested her, occasionally stopping me to get clarification. I didn't mention the part about Heero and I sharing a bed, or the part about Wufei, but I gave her a pretty good idea of what went down. What I really wish is that I could get my hands on that notebook of hers to see what she's writing.

I'd sooner not tell her anything at all really, but I'm basically under orders to do so. But…it doesn't mean that I can't control what I tell her.

Finishing up my tale, I glance at the time, "Would you like something for lunch?"

Following my line of sight, she double checks it to her watch, "Oh my. I'd love to, but I've got to stop at home before I go to my afternoon meeting."

Graciously acknowledging her need to hurry, I again, walk her out the door with a promise of another visit at the same time tomorrow morning. I hope that I managed to get her to walk away with positive thoughts so I can get back to what I do best.

Making myself a quick sandwich, I head back down to the garage to look at my work thus far. I might as well finish building the case for this one before calling it a day. I don't think I want to paint it today since it looks like it wants to rain. I'd rather have the paint be able to dry quickly.

Going about my task including cleaning up, I find myself lacking anything to do. Walking around the garage, I pick up a basketball that was hiding in the corner. Hm…there was a court down the street a ways, next to the playground if I remember correctly. Doesn't sound like too bad of an idea…besides, I need to stay in shape somehow and the small gym/sparring area we put together downstairs just doesn't interest me right now.

Feeling that I should be okay with what I'm wearing, I head out, leaving my phone behind and taking the lonely basketball with me. I dribble it somewhat down the street, feeling a bit awkward and keeping an eye on the weather.

I don't like the rain. Yeah, it's great and all, but I guess having grown up on L2 where if they even let it rain, you dared not collect it to drink since you'd get sick. Earth rain is different, but its also very similar – too much or too little can bring about Death.

During the warmest day we were there in Moscow, it rained, and then it turned to sleet, and then freezing rain. It felt like icy fingers were trying to reach into me to touch whatever calls itself a soul. I spent that whole night awake with a ton of layers on, trying to get the chill out. That was during our first week there and when Heero decided that he couldn't deal with having me up when he was trying to sleep in the same room. After that was when we started sharing a bed.

When the Japanese man gets back in nine days he is going to be so disgusted with me and I honestly can't blame him. He should've let the cold eliminate me – obviously I was weak even back then.

Coming up on the court, it seems that not even the most rambunctious of kids want to be here given the weather. I'll take having the court to myself.

Taking some shots at the foul line, my thoughts float back to the times that Yuy and I would come down here during the early days of us having nothing better to do since Une wasn't quite sure what to do with us yet. We got quite a crowd going fairly often, but it was always sunny then. Sometimes he'd win a game. Sometimes I'd win. Sometimes we would team up and play a little two-on-two and take down the neighborhood punks a few pegs.

Good times…especially when Wufei also had free time and joined us. I never knew that he knew how to play until then. If they thought Heero and I were incredibly hard, they never had a chance with the three of us, even against a team of five.

As the rain starts to fall, I start to run around, doing lay-ups and three-point shots at random. It doesn't take long for it to start pouring and I can feel the weight of my soaked hair stuck to my back. I just realize that I never braided it today – it wasn't completely loose so it didn't bother me, but I'm really not going to complain…it beats having a thick, wet braid beating against my back.

Making a bad shot in which I have to go chase the ball as it attempts to get to the opposite side of the court, I notice that I have an audience. It's hard to tell with all this rain, but it looks like the girl from the other day when I went out for my recon run. I'm somewhat surprised to see violet eyes staring back at me instead of blue-gray, but pass it off. "Hey! Want to play?"

Nodding shyly, she slowly walks up to where I stopped at the foul line. "I haven't played for a long time."

"It's okay, neither have I really. I just found the ball in the garage this afternoon and well," I open up my hand to the rain and look up at the clouds that are continuing to dump their loads on us. Her laughter is rather melodic and I can't help but laugh at the fact that the two of us are out here, looking to play basketball in this weather. "I'm Duo. What's your name?"

The girl that is just slightly taller than I am pauses as if unsure if she wants to answer that, "Phoenix…that's what people call me nowadays anyway." It's a little weird, but I almost feel as if I'm looking at a female version of myself, though her hair isn't nearly as long as mine.

Tossing the ball gently over to her, she dribbles it a bit, mostly with her right arm as if testing it. I take note of the solid black armband that covers it from wrist to elbow. Fashion or is there a story? "That's an interesting name. 'fraid Duo is the only one that I can remember having. So brings you out in the pouring rain?"

"I wish it could be my real name…" I hear her whisper. "Um…I was just looking for some inspiration for a project I'm working on," apparently seeing the confusion on my face she laughs, "That sounds pretty weird, doesn't it? It's a video project. I think I want it to be raining."

Signaling for her to be on the offense first, I mention, taking my position, "Personally, I'm not fond of the rain, but whatever works for you."

"It's all symbolism really. Though I guess that there has to be better imagery for standing one's ground than against raging storm." Smirking, Phoenix moved quickly to my right.

Stepping to knock the ball away from her, I find that she's shielded it with her back rather than her arm. Quite effective, but I grab the ball when she tries to get off a shot. We go back and forth for quite awhile before she collapses onto the ground in the pouring rain laughing. Finding myself joining her, I look over at her and I feel as if I've seen her before outside of that one time where we crossed paths during my run. "Symbolism, huh? Are you a writer?"

"Sort of…musician by trade. Man, it's been so long since I've had a chance to just relax like that," with a big smile on her face, Phoenix flops onto her back, not caring that she's getting even more soaked.

And to think, normally I hate the rain, but right now it's washing the world away if only for a few moments, giving me a chance to breathe.

"Miss Strata!" Bolting upright, she looks around to find the source of the voice, and damn if I don't know that voice myself.

Leaning backwards until I can look at the approaching couple upside down, I call out, "Hey, Q…don't I get a hello?" Glancing at my watch, I wasted a lot of time this afternoon. Ah well, kept my mind off my impending doom for a bit.

It doesn't take long before he and Trowa are standing over us with umbrellas. "What are both of you doing out here in the rain?" The worry on his face is starting to make me feel guilty.

Seeing that my impromptu playmate is silent in fear of having been caught doing something wrong, I speak up, "Phoenix and I were just playing a little basketball earlier. I mean look," waving one hand around, I continue, "We've got the whole place to ourselves." Getting on my feet, I offer the poor girl a hand up.

"We need to get you two dried off quickly," the head of the Winner Corporation ushers us towards the waiting car.

I stop, "Hey…wait a minute. Phoenix, do you even know these two?" I don't want to be accused of abducting some girl.

She nods, her brown locks coming away from her face to try and drain some of the water, "Master Winner is my employer."

Adding up everything again, my only reply is, "Oh…" I run back to pick up the discarded ball.

Quatre reads both of us the riot act all the way back to the house and for some reason, we find ourselves in the apartment I share with Heero rather than Wufei's.

As soon as we're seated on the couch with towels to try and dry off, the blonde stands over both of us, doing his best to be intimidating before giving up and sighing in defeat. "I don't know what I'm going do with the two of you."

Trowa took over, trying to calm the blonde down, pushing him towards the kitchen to make us something hot to drink, and during the distraction, I turn to my partner in crime, "Sorry I got you caught in the middle of this." I really do manage to fuck things up, don't I?

Phoenix shakes her head, "Master Winner is protective, isn't he? I thought he was just that way with me 'cause I'm an investment."

"Yeah, Quatre has been that way for as long as I've known him, but he's being a real mother hen right now…though he's been acting weird since he got here," I keep my voice low and my eyes on the doorway to the dining room/kitchen.

"I didn't know he was a Preventer though…it sort of makes sense now." Her gaze is now focused on the doorway as well. "You know, you're the first person that I know that hasn't asked me who I am."

"You already told me, you're Phoenix," I give her a broad smile, "The math isn't too difficult, but then again, I have a lot less unknown variables than the average person," my attention returns to the doorway, waiting for those two to reemerge.

It looks like she wants to say something, but closes her mouth and sinks back into the couch, crossing her arms over her chest. "It was a good game."

"Yeah…care to play again sometime?" the words are out of my mouth before I can kill the question.

"You mean it!" though her voice doesn't get any louder than we've been talking, her tone of voice changes and wide violet eyes stare at me hopefully.

Shrugging, I toss back, "Sure, why not? I think as long as we don't play in the rain anymore we won't get yelled at."

Her smile is replaced by sadness, causing her to look away, "It's just everyone treats me as if I'm as fragile as glass." Phoenix looks at her right arm, opening and closing her hand.

Hearing soft laughter from the doorway, the former pilot of Sandrock comes over, handing us each a steaming mug of hot chocolate. "The two of you look like you could be siblings."

Considering what I thought earlier when I first saw her on the court, I guess I'm not the only one who saw similarities.

Phoenix's initial shock wore off quickly, leaving a blush on her cheeks, "I guess. I thought Duo was Ryan at first."

Ryan? If this girl is Renee Strata as all implications lead to believe, I don't recognize that name amongst the original band members.

"But what were you two doing out in the rain?" Trowa asks softly, looking between the two of us seated on the couch.

Shrugging, I respond, "Hey, I was there before it started raining and I wasn't about to let it boss me off the court."

"Oh, Duo…" Quatre laughs, holding his sides, "You're too much sometimes." Looks like I'm back on my game again. Slowly but surely I'll prove to them I'm fine.

The girl beside me sits quietly as if seeing her employer in a different light for the first time – not as the head of a huge corporation, but as a regular guy. It seems also that Winner is getting back to normal slowly, though I won't claim that as true until I see more progress.

"It seems that we don't have to introduce her to Duo now," Barton comments in which I give him a strange look.

The blonde Arabian nods, "Miss Strata, this is Duo Maxwell, one of the friends of mine that I was telling you that lives in the area." Turning his attention to me, he asks, "I hope you don't mind, Duo, but if she runs into any trouble, do you think you, Wufei, or Heero would be willing to help her out?"

Irk…does he realize that pretty soon I'm not going to be here anymore? I better just play this one out the way he wants, "No problem at all…you better be glad I'm such a nice guy, Q, otherwise you might be in trouble." Turning, I offer her my hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you again, little lady." So what if she's slightly taller than I am? It doesn't hurt to have some manners.

Her body language proves that she's still nervous now that her real identity is known, but she takes my hand anyway, "Renee Strata, but either Phoenix or Re is fine."

"So, where is Wufei anyway?" Out of the corner of my eye, I can see her relax a little more as if relieved that I didn't turn out to be a rabid fan of hers or something. I guess a rock star's life isn't as glamorous as they make it out to be.

Beginning to finger comb my tail of hair, Barton responds, "He said he had a last minute meeting that he needed to attend and would be running late."

Oh…that does not sound good. Sipping at her mug of hot chocolate, Strata seems to be getting edgy at the lengthening silence. Realizing that everyone's attention has shifted to her, she laughs nervously, "You'd think with all the male musicians I hang around with that I'd be use to being in a room full of guys. I'm sorry I caused everyone so much trouble."

Before Winner can open his mouth, I respond, "Trust me, you haven't caused any of us trouble. Now as for me, I cause them trouble all the time."

The conversation continues on lighter topics, though Phoenix for the most part remained silent. Eventually Wufei arrived, confused as to why there was an unknown girl in the house until Quatre related his request to the Chinese man.

"I'm afraid that Heero won't be back for another…" the blonde trailed off, not remembering how much longer.

"He's due back in nine days, Q," I supply.

"Master Winner, it's very nice of you and your friends to do this, but is it really necessary? It was never announced where I'm going to school so as long as I keep a low profile, I should be fine." Violet eyes pleaded with him. For some reason, I think it's more than her freedom that is the reason for her plea. I mean, the little guy never said word one about her prior to practically having to pull the information out of him by his teeth. No, her freedom isn't in question here.

"I'd rather not take chances with your safety, Miss Strata…"

"It's Phoenix…Re…whatever, just please stop calling me that. I'm tired of people treating me like a doll because of my name," the girl snapped and then covered her mouth with her hands, "I am so sorry…please forgive me."

Laughing at the disbelief on his face, I toss my still damp towel at him, "C'mon, Q, lighten up. This isn't a business setting…it couldn't hurt to drop the formalities."

Pulling the towel from his head, the blonde blinks momentarily before responding, "It isn't that. I just never realized that it bothered you."

"Winner, you owe us dinner," Chang calmly informed him from where he had taken up residence on the other side of the sofa, next to Renee. Oooh…Wufei rhymed.

"What!"

"You heard me."

Feeling eyes on me, I look over at the girl next to me and shrug. I have no idea what is going on either and I pretty much live with these guys.

As they argue, I pick up the empty mugs and bring them into the kitchen, attempting to escape getting pulled into whatever weird fight they've got going on.

"Duo…" a voice calls softly.

Turning as I rinse them out, I notice our guest has followed me. "What is it? Did you want more?" Internally I cringe as that came out as sounding gentle, but bordering on sounding annoyed.

"Oh, no…I'm fine, thanks. It's just…" Strata laughs lightly, "This is all pretty stupid isn't it? It's not like I'm the queen of the world or anything, but Master Winner treats me like that. Honestly, I'd kill for a bit of normalcy in my life."

"Other than that normalcy is overrated, I've tried that route – it doesn't work as well as people think," laughing to make it sound like I'm joking, but the look on her face tells me that she knows more than I or any of the others would want her to. Oddly enough, I don't think Quatre realizes it either…I think he would've said something if he had told her.

"Perhaps you're right." Picking up one of the mugs to dry, I immediately want to tell her to not worry about it, but stop, realizing that she wants to prove something, even through simple means like I've been trying to show the others that I'm fine and want to go back to work. The silence stretches for a bit before she speaks up again, "You must think I'm strange, thinking that I could recognize someone that I haven't seen since I was about four years old."

My mind rushes to keep up with the sudden topic change, "You mean Ryan?"

A sad smile makes its way into her expression, "I guess you really can't believe all that stuff they say about twins having a stronger connection and whatnot."

"You've had it pretty rough, huh?"

Shrugging, she picks up the next mug, "I think a lot of other people have had it worse. I really wish there was a way that I could help everyone, you know? But the only thing I can do is make music. Master Winner has been so kind to me and my brother and the only way I can repay him is to keep working, but now…"

Pieces begin falling into place, "The idea of taking a break and going back to school wasn't your idea, was it?"

That determination that I saw the other day comes back briefly, "No, but if I want to keep my job so I can someday hope to pay him and his family back, it's the least I can do."

"If you burn out, you'll be good to no one," Chang says cryptically from the entrance to the kitchen. "I've been trying to tell Maxwell that for awhile now." At the panicked look on Renee's face, he continues, "I sent Winner and Barton back downstairs to make dinner. They've caused enough commotion for the evening."

Taking the dry mugs, I put them away. "So, should we get you home? You must be sick of our company by now."

Shaking her head, Renee replies, "Not at all. It's nice to be able to talk to someone once in awhile, but I should probably get going – I was planning on getting up early so I could go see about that job in town."

"Woman, don't you make enough money selling albums?" Wufei questions.

Her shyness kicks in and she looks down at her feet, "It's not that…I just don't want to burden Master Winner more than I already have. What I make that way either goes to paying him back or to charities. I want to at least prove to myself that I can stand on my own without relying on my family's name to carry me."

Laughing lightly, I put my hand on her shoulder, "Girlie, I think you have more than proven that you can stand on your own, but if that's what you want to do, I don't think any of us will try to stop you. Come on, I'll give you a ride home."

Raising her hands to turn down the offer, she states it verbally as well, "No, it's okay, it isn't far – I can walk."

"I wouldn't be much of a gentleman if I made a lady walk home in this weather," my eyes slide over to Wufei to see what his opinion is.

"You're no gentleman, Maxwell."

"Bite me, Chang," I stick my tongue out at him to punctuate my statement.

"No, I think I'll leave that to Yuy as well." Oh, he did not just go there…

The sound of no longer contained laughter stops our verbal sparring match. Looking over at the female in the room, tears are running down her face from trying to contain it, "I'm sorry!" she manages to squeak out.

Crossing his arms over his chest and turning away from me, a black eye slides over to look in my direction, "Maxwell, I swear you disgrace my honor daily."

Um…shit. Play along I guess? "Hey, give me something better to do." Another words, get me off this stupid vacation because I'm sick of being idle. "Anyway, I was thinking that maybe it would be nice of us to feed Phoenix before we send her home. What do you think?" I glance over to my side where she seems to have calmed herself down.

"Oh, no, I don't want to trouble you."

Smirking, I look over at Wufei, "Causing Quatre trouble is the only entertainment we have nowadays. Besides, it could be considered getting even with his mother hen act this afternoon."

Getting the remainder of us downstairs, I feel almost back to myself, but there's something lurking…waiting for the right moment to drag me back down into the shadows of my mind.

The rest of the evening continues without further incident and I take Phoenix home, leaving her with my name, house number, and mobile number on the off chance that she might eventually need to use it.

Silence accompanies me on the short drive home and as I enter the apartment and make my way to bed, the shadows hiding have begun encroaching on the edges of the barrier that I've built around myself.  
----------  
Fin  
by JeiC  
August 2006  
---  
Author's Notes: I may be delayed for the next few chapters due to major projects and mid-terms coming up. I will do what I can to stay to my two-week schedule, but…if I don't get it done on time, I apologize in advance.  
Also, I cross-post this on deviantart, and Eikou Studios…yeah, I know, Eikou Studios is under construction, but it's always under construction – at least my fics and vids are up and viewable. Everything else…well, it'll get there eventually.  
And this is where I do a shameless plug for my other fic "Weighted Memories" – a one-shot Gundam Wing fic. That one hasn't gotten any love yet.  
Anyway, I didn't make up the name for the college in Moscow…just shortened the name. I wrote out M.V. Lomonsov Moscow State University and was like…no, I think I'll shorten that since colleges might have changed names by that point.  
Now to Phoenix…am I going to be doing the whole "long lost sibling" thing – no. They look a lot alike, just different genders and other small details. I like playing off of that. It's a case of mistaken identity, but yet another coincidence. If you think about it too long, like I have been, then you'll get "It's a Small World" stuck in your head as well.

On a side note: I see green bouncing balls of HP goodness. (aka has been playing too much KH lately)

Special thanks to:  
**kjady:** Whew…got this one out fast just as my two weeks of mid-terms are getting ready to hit. Thanks for the review!  
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	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I really should just make one catch-all disclaimer and use it all the time, but alas, I write a new one every time. So it's gonna be the same old I don't own Gundam Wing or Evanescence, but I did write this story so please keep my name on it if you're gonna pass it along.  
Author's Notes: Notes at the end.  
Warnings: angst, language, yaoi implications

**Away From Me  
****Chapter 6**

by JeiC  
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_I'm longing to be lost in you  
__(Away from this place I have made)  
__Won't you take me away from me  
---  
_My alarm clock is mocking me. Those green numbers are making fun of the fact that it never has to work in trying to wake me up.

Ironically, I think they're the same color as Deathscythe-Hell's twin scythe blades. I miss my buddy – he understood me.

Snickering at how pathetic that sounds, I roll out of bed and get my day started. I wonder what case the shrink is going to want to talk about today or if she's going to insist on beating the Moscow drug raid to death.

I have to admit that it was definitely a different case since it wasn't weapons trafficking. That and I was pretty passionate about that one since I've seen too many lives ruined due to drugs on the streets of L2. Some of those kids at the orphanage…the older ones, were heading down that path. It seems as if most of them gave up on that idea, or at least I hope so anyway.

Towel drying my hair, I realize that it is still an obscenely early hour for the others to be up. Braiding it, I grab my keys and head downstairs. I contemplate the idea of camping out in front of Wufei's door, but pass on that, heading into the garage – leaving the door open to signal that I'm not upstairs.

Turning the radio on, I turn it down quickly before setting about getting the measurements drawn out on the next set of boards. It helps to pass the time apparently, when a voice from the doorway interrupts me, "I never knew you had such a good voice, Duo."

"I hope you're not looking to hire me, Q," I throw back jokingly. I honestly didn't even realize that I had taken to singing along with the music.

"Hm…that's not such a bad idea. Ever been in the music business before?" He teases back.

Pulling back from where I had stretched out to reach a point on the board to mark, I stand up and look at him, putting the pencil behind my ear, "I'm more trouble than I'm worth. It's good to see you're awake this morning, or have you already had three pots of coffee?"

Putting his hands on his hips as if to deny it, he comments, "A little of both I suppose. I slept well last night, unlike the night before."

"You know, I find it a little creepy that we've both been affected the same way the past couple of days. Do you think it's something in that the others are sneaking into our food?" I laugh at the notion.

Quatre laughs nervously making me think that maybe it's my fault and his strange empathic senses can't get any rest with me around. "Speaking of food, Wufei says that breakfast is almost ready if you're interested."

"Yeah, sure." Taking the pencil out from behind my ear to place it on the board, I wash my hands quickly and then follow the blonde, turning the radio off as I pass. "Somehow, I think we lost the meal rotation that we had going."

A smirk appears on his face, and I'm not sure if I'm going to like what follows, "I think it's for the best if that means that you and Wufei cook more."

"Winner!" Chang barks from the kitchen area of his apartment, "Get back in here and finish what you were doing!" So that would be why Quatre is up this early in the morning and wide-awake.

Taking a seat at the once again, set table, I watch with some amusement the blonde getting ordered around by the best cook amongst the four of us.

Unfortunately, this also gives my mind the time to look at the countdown again – eight days…eight more days until Yuy's scheduled to return. He could very possibly return earlier and none of them have thought it a good idea to tell me of his status. Pains in the ass…all three of them, though Wufei has been fairly informative.

Only one way to find out… "Hey, have any of you heard how Heero's doing? Just want to know if I should expect him back early."

Quatre and Wufei both turn to look at me, but then the blonde turns to his silent companion as if not sure what to say now that he's been directly questioned.

"He hasn't checked in," Chang states without hesitation.

"Wufei!" The Arabian looks horrified at the fact that he divulged the information.

"Shut up, Winner. Maxwell has a right to know."

Yuy, not checking in? That isn't like him at all. Even when he wraps up early, he still checks in during his scheduled times until he's back at headquarters.

Putting a halt to the inevitable fight, Barton plays to the blonde's emotional side, "Wufei is right – it isn't fair of us to keep Duo in the dark…he knows Heero better than the rest of us."

I don't know about that. Just because I live with the guy and am usually partnered with him doesn't make me more of an expert on him. The guy is still an enigma to me sometimes.

"Whoa, rewind…Heero hasn't checked in? How long have you guys known?" It takes me a moment to realize that I'm out of my chair with my hands on the table, but now that I'm here, I won't back down.

Wufei takes a moment to take what he was cooking off the burner before turning to look at me. "I was just told yesterday. I didn't tell them until this morning."

"A little delayed there, Chang. Why didn't you say something last night!" I can hear Quatre next to me telling me to calm down, but I ignore him in favor of wanting a damn answer.

"We had a guest last night." Okay, point taken, but he could have said something afterwards. "It was in my better judgment to wait until this morning so that you and Winner wouldn't be up all night worrying."

Sitting back down, I shake my head. "Are they at least going to check it out?"

"I'm not sure. As of last night they were going to wait and see if he makes his next scheduled check-in, but the matter has been tabled until a meeting later this morning. Maxwell, I'm not fond of how it is being handled either, but at this time, it would be unwise to move – we could endanger Yuy further by jumping to conclusions." Dammit, I hate it when he has to go and be logical like that.

Sighing, I inquire, "I'm guessing that I'm not being called back either, am I?"

"At this moment, no, but that could change. I would suggest that you don't expect it since there is a strong possibility that he could have made his check-in over the course of the night or will at some point today." The look I get also tells me to keep my mouth shut and pretend that I don't know. With all of this going on, I almost forgot about the shrink.

"When is his next check-in?" While I may not like this, I have a feeling there's a lot that Chang isn't saying right now that he does know. I try to keep in mind that he has to be loathing being stuck in the dark on the important details as much as I have been.

"Tomorrow or Thursday – they were rather vague about when it was. I intend to get a straight answer this morning provided he hasn't made a late check-in." Damn, damn, damn…it should have been me who was the person he checked-in with. Then we wouldn't be having this issue.

Breakfast continues and concludes in an uneasy silence.

Heading back into the garage, I overhear Quatre talking to the others as they get into their cars, "Are you sure it was wise to tell Duo? I mean…"

"Winner, we've been over this a thousand times – my answer remains the same," Chang bites back verbally.

Leaning against the little bit of wall between the two garage doors, I silently listen. I don't like eavesdropping, but if this is my only means of getting information, then so be it.

Unfortunately, I'm disappointed by car doors closing and engines starting. Perhaps there will be another chance.

Waiting until I am certain that they are gone, I again open the garage door furthest from the house to let in some fresh air and natural light, getting back to work. I don't even bother turning the radio on – with the latest information, I have a lot on my mind as is.

Will Heero be mad at me for not being there? Heh, he probably won't even notice. I seem to be failing without even trying.

Picking up the case that I had put together yesterday, I figure that it couldn't hurt to prime it.

This sucks…the one person that I think I could talk to about everything is the one that is now in trouble and my hands are figuratively tied. If I wanted to get into a lot of trouble, I could go find out for myself what is holding him up, but again, I don't know the situation he's in. He could just be laying low until he's in the clear to check-in, but…what would put him in that situation?

So many questions that I don't have the answers for…

It doesn't take me long to finish with the primer, and I have the other one cut out in record time.

"At it again, Duo?"

My jester's mask slides into place before I turn to greet her – I had been content to let her stand there for a while, but time is money I suppose. "Why of course…can't disappoint the kiddies now can I?"

Approaching where I'm finishing screwing the last panel on, she picks up on the thread of conversation, "No, I suppose not. How many are you making?"

"Three. I figured I'd send at least two of them." Though honestly, I don't know if I told her how many I was making for them or not now. Man, I'm slipping.

Putting everything down once I finish with my task, I close the garage door and hold the door to the house open for her. Following the same pattern we have from day one, I await her first question, hoping I don't betray that I know something about Heero's status. "Yesterday you were saying that you would work extra hours to catch up, when you caught up, why did you continue?"

Duo's Preventer history anyone? Shrugging, I take a moment as if to think about it, but finding more amusement at the fact that she's sitting on the couch and I'm in the chair. I guess things have changed since all those pictures I use to see with it the other way around. "I guess it just became a habit."

"No desire to push for advancement?" Nora almost seems surprised at my answer.

Oops, guess I threw the shrink for a bit of a loop. "Nah, that's not my thing. I was helping people – that's all that mattered."

Her pen is going a mile a minute. Maybe she's not really taking notes…maybe she's writing a book or something. That would be rather amusing, though personally I'd be a bit irritated unless I got to be the first one to read it.

"I know I said when we started that I was going to stay within the years you have been working as a Preventer, but I wanted to discuss something just a little bit further back." Lady, I'm twenty-two years old…how much is a little? Folding my hands on my lap, I wait for her to continue, "The time period between the incident with Mariemaea and the mission that brought you to the Preventer Corp…what did you do then? You mentioned working with a girl at a scrap yard and volunteering on occasion with local orphans. Did you do anything else during that time frame?"

This line of questioning confuses me, but if she really wants to know, I mean, there wasn't much else that I did, "I got my high school diploma. That's pretty much the extent that I did during that year."

"That's still a good ambition. Did you contemplate going to college?" Oh boy, this is getting weird. Are they going to try to do to me what the Winner Corporation did to poor Phoenix? Well, it's not a bad alternative really, but I want to make the decision on my own, not be forced into it.

Nodding, I reply flippantly, "Yeah, but one day while I was thinking about what I wanted to do, Sally came and whisked me away." I laugh lightly at my fairy tale explanation.

"So you never figured out what you wanted to do?"

Irk…I should really watch my words. "I had narrowed it down, but hadn't really made a decision at that point."

"I see, so what were you considering?" From here on, our conversation turns to discussing the various paths I could have taken if I hadn't been called back to action.

Closing in on the luncheon hour, she pauses in her questioning, in which I'm grateful since it allows me to breathe.

Scribbling a few more notes, Reilly looks up and directly at me. "During your time with the Preventers, have you considered going back?"

"To get my degree you mean?" After getting a nod from her I answer honestly and bluntly, "I can't say that I haven't, but my schedule never allowed for it. I have to say that it has been on my mind somewhat lately."

"During the training exercise?"

Blinking, my mind quickly catches up, "No, after Lady Une relieved me of duty." Damn, don't try to put things where they don't belong.

Nora's pen is going again. I'm really getting sick of these daily interrogations and it's only day three. And to think…I usually have so much fun doing interrogations. Having the tables turned on me never did sit well.

"I see," the shrink comments glancing at her watch and then realizes that she's been caught, "Sorry, it's just that I have another meeting this afternoon. It seems as if it is going to become a daily thing."

"Not a problem." Standing up with her, once again, we go through our parting routine, setting up yet another appointment for tomorrow at the same time. It's getting old, but if it keeps the higher ups at HQ happy, then so be it.

Once again, making myself a sandwich, I head to the garage to clean up a bit before contemplating what else to do with my day. I'm too restless to keep working on the controllers now. I'm tempted to call Chang and see if he's found out anything more.

Hey, the guy is both my roommate and my partner…I care about him. Okay, lets not go there right now, I'll only depress myself.

Getting back upstairs I grab the basketball and head for the courts. That should help at least wear me out enough that I won't want to go and do something stupid. Yeah, it's a tall order, but one can only hope at the very least.

Opening the front door, I blink in confusion as Chang pulls into the driveway and gets out of his car, locking it with speed I have never seen. He points at me, and then the house, "Get. Inside. Now."

Never having seen the Chinese man with such barely contained fury, I do as I'm told, scurrying back inside, but only enough to allow him in. "What's this about?"

"Follow," is the only command I get. Shit, what happened now?

We traverse through his apartment, until we reach what is his is personal library/study. I have to admit, this is nice…I was wondering why Quatre and Trowa had to share a room when they stayed with him – we've only got two bedrooms upstairs.

"_There's still no word from Yuy. Barton and Winner are going over the mission logs and details now trying to find out what has been going on._" My mind switches over to be able to translate the Chinese that Chang is spouting off at an alarmingly fast pace.

Here I begin cursing at myself even more, "_Do they need me to go in?_" Please let me go in. I'll be able to find the bastard.

"_Not yet anyway – they sent me here to keep an eye on you incase you decide to try something._" He won't even look at me now, and mentally I know that he doesn't want to, but right now, he can't disobey orders without putting himself in a similar position to my own.

But I can't stop the comment from coming forth, "_I don't need a fucking babysitter._"

The Chinese man seems to deflate at that point, "_I know, Duo, but right now, we have to follow the path that they've set for us until our path reveals itself._" Looking at the ball in my hands, he takes it and looks at it a moment, jump-starting his English, "May I join you?"

Huh? "Um…sure." I had completely forgotten the notion, but both of us need to unwind before we lose it and it'll also satisfy his orders.

I wait for him to change out of his uniform by his front door and find that I am quickly coming to dislike the organization more and more. This is beyond stupid. I should be on my way out now to go see what happened to Heero, not twiddling my thumbs at the house. Hell, I should at least be at HQ working on this instead of Quatre and Trowa…I know the types of places that Yuy likes to hide when he needs to lay low for awhile.

"Lets go," Chang announces, coming into view.

The short trek to the court is spent in silence. Given how nice of a day it is, I'm surprised to not see any kids here until I check my watch – they're still in school, which explains a lot.

Wufei and I battle each other for a couple of hours, gathering a small crowd, including Phoenix, who seems content to watch from the sidelines. Getting ready for the next round, we get interrupted by someone else, "You guys think you're hot, do you?"

I don't recognize this kid and his friends, glancing over at my housemate, it seems as if he's run across these brats before. Both of us decline to comment, getting ready for the next round.

"Don't ignore me. You with the girlie hair," I try not to take my eyes off of Wufei even though I want to beat this kid until he can't talk anymore right now. It isn't even due to the insult, but the cocky attitude is pissing me off, "I saw you yesterday playing in the rain…thought you were a girl."

"Oh for the love of whatever it is you believe in, could you please come up with something original?" I throw at him.

It seems to have shut him up for a moment, but both Wufei and I have given up on getting to play in peace with these jerks around. It doesn't take him too long to recover, and I have to laugh at how pathetically cliché he is, "You guys won't think you're so cool once you play against us."

Speaking so that only the Chinese man can understand me, "_You want to do this Chang?_"

"_All five, or would you rather make it even?_" He questions as the leader of the jerks starts yelling at us that we're ignoring him.

"_Two against five…that doesn't seem fair to them._"

That is the only comment I get out before I'm pulled up by the collar of my shirt to come face to face with the leader, "Listen you girlie punk. Play us or get off our court."

"Funny, last I checked, this was a public area. You might want to go double check with the planning board downtown," I smirk, knowing that I'm getting myself in deep.

I do this to myself a lot, but I did it more before I joined the Preventers. Guess it mellowed me out a bit, but not enough that the smart-ass street rat doesn't come out every once in awhile. That's one of the things that got me in trouble during that training exercise.

Unfortunately for him, he's using both hands to hold me up so he can't punch me in the face. I suppose that this is fortunate on my part. "Who do you think you are, you son of a bitch?" He shoves me backwards, and just to give a little boost to his ego, I land on my ass after staggering a bit.

Wufei seems to be rather content to let this play out, so I continue the game, "Well, I know I'm not the playground bully at least."

"Why you little…" He moves to kick me and I swipe the leg he's standing on, knocking him to the ground.

I can feel Shinigami's grin even before the words are out of my mouth, "I guess we're even now."

"Raul, get him!"

Seeing the big guy in the back move slowly through his buddies as if to try and be intimidating, I roll backwards so that I'm on my feet in a crouch, "Didn't your mama ever teach you that you've got to fight your own battles?"

I know that if I keep going, I could get the shit beat out of me, but I haven't felt this alive in a long time…I miss taunting my opponents.

Raul doesn't seem to care and neither does his wimpy leader as the big guy bears down on me. Standing to greet him, I duck his punch and get behind him, slamming my elbow into his kidneys. Now, that might have been dirty, but on the streets, you don't fight clean. If he wanted a clean fight, he should have chosen to go after Chang.

With his apparently best fighter down for the count, I hear the leader begin to order the others to attack, but cuts off in a cry of pain. Turning, I look to find Sierra standing there with her fingers digging into a pressure point on his collar. "Stop."

The boys all seem to turn at once and cower in fear at her presence. Choruses of "I'm sorry, Miss Archer" come from each of them.

"Out of my sight, now," she grinds out and glares as each of them takes off running.

Shit, my next-door neighbor is positively frightening when she's mad. "Heh…hey there, Sierra."

"_Idiots…they should know better than to pick a fight against a Preventer,_" she mutters to herself under her breath in her native language. Stepping to pick up the basketball, she passes it to me roughly, "Want in."

"We'll need one more player…" Wufei doesn't even seem to be phased by her actions. "Maxwell, you choose."

Scanning our small audience, I find one quickly, "Phoenix! Get over here!" I signal for her to come over to our group of three.

Shyly she comes up, "Are you sure? I'm not that good of a player."

"Good enough, so how do we want to split this up?" Over the course of the next couple of hours, we swap our teams around: girls against guys, Re and me going head-to-head with Chang and Archer, Sierra and I versus Wufei and Phoenix…

Eventually Quatre and Trowa arrive, out of uniform, looking to jump in on the action. Strata seems a bit apprehensive at first playing with or against her employer, but soon she settles down – the visible tension lessening quite a bit.

We play long past when the last of our audience leaves until the lights come on in the park. This is stupid – we should be trying to find out about Heero, but at least the four of us guys need this. We just need to get the tension and stress out of our systems so we can actually think straight. All of us have been docile for far too long.

Slamming the ball into the basket, I hang from the hoop for a moment, enjoying the feeling of being in the air before dropping back to the ground.

"I think maybe we should call it a night," Quatre suggests.

Looking at my watch, Wufei speaks for me, "We've been out here quite awhile."

We all walk until Phoenix turns off for her street, which I'm somewhat surprised that the blonde let her go without insisting that someone walk her all the way home. We part ways with Sierra at our house, finding out that she had seen Wufei and I earlier in the day and was just coming back to see if she could join when the boys interrupted us. They're apparently a part of a youth correctional program that she works with, which explains why they were in fear of getting caught misbehaving by her.

Directing me to follow him, I enter Chang's apartment and trail behind as he ushers the other two into the dining room. "What is Yuy's status?" Without skipping a beat, he's already getting stuff out to make a light supper.

Quatre nervously looks at Trowa before speaking, "He still hasn't checked in. We've been going over all the mission details and logs, but everything appears to have been going smoothly up until he stopped checking-in."

Getting dishes and such out, I begin setting the table. "I don't suppose that there's a way I can see those logs? Heero has a way of hiding it if things aren't going well in his reports, but he doesn't feel it's necessary to alert anyone."

Barton holds up a PDA that he downloaded all the information onto. "I figured you would be asking for that."

"Officially, you haven't seen any of this, okay, Duo?" The head of the Winner Corporation locks his eyes onto mine, relaying the weight of the situation at hand.

"Got it, no sweat." Having finished with my task, I sit down and start thumbing through the information quickly. Finally, I have something to do again. Reaching the last communication, I put the device down and look at the others, needing one more variable filled in, "Who is his contact?"

"Kenyon," Trowa answers quickly.

Whoa, "Wait a second…they put a rookie on a case like this?"

Placing food on the table, Chang hovers over my shoulder, "Did you find something?"

"The last transmission," the other two come over to see what I found, "Kenyon didn't secure it right. Now, I haven't gone back to look at the others outside of a quick once over, but he started to secure the line and then got sloppy. It wouldn't have been easy, but someone could have intercepted it."

"What?" the blonde held the device closer to him with my hand still attached, "How did we miss this?"

"Because Kenyon directed our attention away from this part of the log," the disgust in the tall man's voice evident.

Pulling my hand and the PDA back, I comment, "I'll keep going over this to see if there's something else, but I'd suggest starting there." Dammit, it should have been me on this, but…would I have been any better?

The blonde sits down at the table to my left, "There's nothing you could have done, Duo. They gave it to Kenyon because they believed he could handle it."

"More like he whined until they gave him something harder to work on," Wufei throws out, taking the seat across from me.

"They probably paired him with Heero since he was the next one of you to have a solo mission. It would give Kenyon experience and Heero would carry the weight of the mission. Sounds like he's fishing for a promotion," Barton looked directly across at Winner.

Folding his hands and resting his chin on them with his elbows on the table, light blue eyes narrow, "I knew he was hiding something, but I have a feeling that it goes deeper than this."

"Do you think that Kenyon intentionally put Yuy in harm's way?" Chang asked, taking another bite in between. Honestly, I'm surprised that any of us have an appetite after this.

The blonde shakes his head, "At the moment, no. He's definitely nervous, but I think it's more because…"

"He fucked up?" I finish. "The guy is obviously worried about his image, but the previous entries seem to be fine."

"What about Heero's actual reports?" Trowa chimes in.

Rubbing the bridge of my nose, I close my eyes for a moment, "Honestly, I haven't read them yet. Anyway, it's going to take me awhile to decipher his code if it's even there. I don't suppose there's any way for you guys to get me back into HQ even as a consultant?" I wave the PDA in my hand, "I can only do so much with this."

Quatre looks directly at me, "I'm working on it now, but whatever you can do in the mean time would be greatly appreciated."

The rest of the meal is eaten in silence as I keep flipping through the reports, looking for something…anything to give me a clue. The real question is why did Heero take some rookie as his contact on a mission this delicate?

Soon I find myself back upstairs and in bed, still reading from the small device. There has to be something. Everything was going textbook perfect on my partner's end until he missed his last check in.

Dammit, Yuy…where are you? You're the only person that I can really talk to and you're the one that's missing.  
----------  
Fin  
by JeiC  
August 2006  
---  
Author's Notes: I may be delayed for the next few chapters due to major projects and mid-terms coming up. I will do what I can to stay to my two-week schedule, but…if I don't get it done on time, I apologize in advance.  
Also, I cross-post this on deviantart, and Eikou Studios…yeah, I know, Eikou Studios is under construction, but it's always under construction – at least my fics and vids are up and viewable. Everything else…well, it'll get there eventually.  
And this is where I do a shameless plug for my other fic "Weighted Memories" – a one-shot Gundam Wing fic. That one hasn't gotten any love yet.  
As for anything in terms of this chapter in particular other than it came together very, very quickly and I'm much happier with it than the last chapter, I don't have anything to say. I'm still in the middle of quite a bit of testing, but I would pick this up for a break from everything and well…it kinda just came together.  
Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed a little changed from the same old monotony that I was getting myself into.

On a side note:  
Kingdom Hearts: It's okay to kill for money. In fact, we encourage it.

Special thanks to:  
**Susan and Phaenilix:** Thank you guys for leaving me reviews on the last chapter. Wish I had more to say, but…I'm tired.  
**Sukunai Kitsune:** Thanks for your encouragement about taking a break and listening to my whacked out, sleep-deprived rantings.  
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	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I really should just make one catch-all disclaimer and use it all the time, but alas, I write a new one every time. So it's gonna be the same old I don't own Gundam Wing or Evanescence, but I did write this story so please keep my name on it if you're gonna pass it along.  
Author's Notes: Notes at the end.  
Warnings: angst, language, yaoi implications

**Away From Me  
****Chapter 7**

by JeiC  
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_Crawling through this world as disease flows through my veins  
---  
_Waking with a start, I look for the source of what woke me up, grabbing the PDA before it can fall off my chest. Kind of can't believe I fell asleep reading it. My eyes quickly pick out the time – just past two and the world is still dark, but my night vision has always been pretty darn good. Most smart thieves strike when it's dark, you know.

Shuddering, I realize that I probably woke up due to a sudden drop in temperature, but grab my gun and do a sweep of the house anyway. You can never be too careful.

Finding nothing, I head back to bed, closing a few windows along the way.

Reaching my destination, I flop back onto it, tucking my gun away safely. Great…now I'm wide awake. It's too damn early for this.

Hoping that the batteries didn't die on the device, I get the PDA to turn back on. Grabbing my laptop quickly, I curl back up in bed and download all the information onto it. It should be a little easier now to navigate to compare and contrast the data.

Feeling something warm and toasty on my lap, I wake up a lot slower than I did earlier, finding my laptop is the source of heat. This sucks.

Getting up for real this time, I plug my laptop in to recharge before the battery dies. It still has plenty left on it, but who knows if I'm going to need to run with it later.

Logging it out, I set about getting ready for the day. I suppose that since I haven't officially been called to action that I'm going to have to continue to play dumb around the Preventer official.

Making my way to the garage once again, I hit the radio this time as I pick up the next set to measure out…I'll prime the other one later since I'll put the first coat on the first one at the same time. I'm half tempted to try my artistic skills on these and create some sort of design.

Thinking about it, why send Wufei back to keep an eye on me if I supposedly don't know? Taking extra precautions? They probably think that I'll find out at some point and they'll need someone to subdue me unless they told them that I know.

This doesn't make any sense. I don't have enough answers to even narrow my scenarios down.

Dammit…Heero is technically due back in seven days – just one week. One fucking week and I haven't made any progress it seems and now I'm in an even worse position with him being out of contact and not a damn clue how to find him without more information.

This whole case just does not make sense. It's almost as if they're forcibly pushing me out and not caring what happens to Yuy. They probably figure that they need to keep an eye on Chang after the incident with Mariemaea.

"Quatre was right…" I look up to find that it's Trowa's turn to fetch me. "…You have a good singing voice."

"Don't tell me we're back to that again," I roll my eyes and go back to measuring out the last of what I'll need before I cut.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see him shrug. "Breakfast is ready if you're hungry." Turning on his heel, he leaves quickly.

Shaking my head, I finish up quickly and follow in his wake – turning off the radio as I pass. I swear that thing is getting me into enough trouble without everything else going on.

Digging into my pocket, I grab the PDA without even realizing I had it or even noticing that it shouldn't have been there until Wufei comments on that I'm still reading the damn thing. Ah well…if nothing else, I'm subconsciously continuing to work on trying to figure out what the hell went wrong.

Sitting down at the table, I keep reading through it, until I have to stop and close my eyes, rubbing the bridge of my nose.

"Are you okay, Duo?" Quatre eyes me innocently.

"Yeah, dude, I'm cool. Just kept waking up last night due to the temperature changes," one being the cold air, the other being a rather toasty lap.

"So any more luck?" aqua eyes look at me hopefully.

Grabbing the full glass of orange juice at my setting, I take a moment before responding, "Not yet. I double-checked the other transmissions and they're all identical copies of each other in terms of the securing protocols. The only thing that could have hacked those was another Preventer line that knew what it was looking for – regular protocol. However, the actual reports themselves seem somewhat inconsistent. Now, without an audio file to confirm it, either Heero has some sort of code going here, or someone has tampered with the files. The only thing I can tell you is to double check the Special Ops server to see if someone's hacked it recently. It's a little hard for me to tell which with copies. If that's the case, I'll need to get into the recording server in my office."

"Recording server? I can't say that I've ever seen anything that looks like a server in your office…" the blond looks at me doubtfully.

Barton raises an eyebrow, "Wouldn't that have also been hacked?"

"Awe hell no. First of all, pretty much no one knows it's there and you won't find it on the network without knowing what you're looking for. Plus, on the off chance someone did and tried to hack it, Heero and I set it up so that it would back-hack the other person, cause quite a bit of chaos and destruction to them, and leave us a nice little trail to follow so we can personally teach them not to mess with our stuff. Une let us set it up on the off chance something like this happened, but wouldn't let us put our attack dogs on the main Special Ops server. Pretty much it has been forgotten about since. Heero and I maintain it, but it has never been needed until possibly now." What I don't tell them is that I don't physically need to be there to get into it – we gave ourselves outside passes to get in.

The other two look at Wufei who is poking at his food, "I know about it. The people named, plus now the two of you should be the extent of those that know of its existence. Mostly it was created to protect field agents against some of the less than honest officers stationed at the main office. I can't get into it though – it had been decided that only Maxwell and Yuy should have access to it, which I would have to agree was a very logical course of action. Their level of coding is beyond me."

"This might be a more complex than we hoped. Lady Une isn't going to easily allow Duo to walk in just to get the files we need from it. Even with Wufei's knowledge of it, I have a feeling that it is going a futile effort to attempt that route unless we have no other alternative," one emerald eye stares across at his partner, trying to emphasize the weight of the situation now.

"I think if we first prove that the files have been deliberately altered, then we would have a better case for demanding those files," Quatre argued.

"Sounds like you guys have a good course of action planned. I'll see if I can find a code in Heero's transmissions on the chance that they haven't been tampered with, but to be honest, I'm not going to get much work done…the daily visits from the shrink are somewhat counterproductive to this," to be honest though…I feel like I've been putting on a stage act and the script is written, but someone forgot to give me a copy.

Not to mention that I've been off my game pretty much for the past week. It's almost as if I've been drowning in someone else's life, yet I was the one that got myself into this mess. I feel like I'm crawling, but I'm getting there slowly…I think.

Suddenly having the PDA yanked out of my hand pulls me out of my thoughts, "Dammit, Maxwell! Now I know why you're so scrawny. Eat!"

"Heh…" I smile sheepishly, scratching the back of my head, "Old habits die hard and all, I guess." Doing as I'm told, I look for the first opportunity to get the little device back. I can read and eat, honest!

Soon enough, Quatre and Trowa are headed out for HQ, but Wufei lingers. Apparently, they still want him to keep me un-alert and unaware of the current situation, and most importantly, keep me out of trouble, though I wonder what they would say about that playground scuffle yesterday…

At least that answers some of the questions I had earlier…they don't want me to know, and it makes me appreciate the guys more for actually keeping me in the loop, though under-the-counter type of unofficially. I notice that Barton took the PDA back with him, hopefully to get me more wonderful data to sit here and try to parse.

"You said the base psychologist comes here?" Chang inquires, following me out to the garage.

Picking up a paint can, I bring it over and put it next to the primer I used yesterday. "Yeah, she's been seeing me work on these everyday so far this week. At first she thought I had gone off the deep end and was building something to plot my revenge against HQ, but I set the record straight. Or at least that's the impression she gave me anyway."

"Convienent – make her content by showing that you're doing something constructive and shows some level of normality, which acts as a cover for the fact that you're still doing Preventer work without official clearance. I have to hand it to you, Duo, the timing of the request from Schbeiker couldn't have been more perfect." Now it's rare to get a compliment like that from the Chinese man.

Opening up the same garage door to let fresh air and sunlight in, I smirk, "Yeah, Hilde does come through at the oddest times, though often without realizing it." Popping open the paint can, I set the primed controller case on a new set of old newspaper, moving the one ready to be primed to where it had previously sat.

Dipping my brush into the black paint, I can sense Wufei moving over to where his motorcycle is. "It has been awhile since we took these out for a ride."

"The weather wasn't good for quite awhile there, and then this mess occured. We've had an odd spring, though summer seems to be setting in quickly enough," I comment, noting the warmth of the morning air. It won't be hot today, but it'll be comfortable.

Feeling my phone vibrate, I curse vividly, looking from the paintbrush in my hand to the pocket that is concealing my phone. Quickly finding a place to put it down, I wipe my hands of any possible paint, though I tend to be quite careful, and pull the device out, glancing at the caller ID before answering, "Maxwell."

The conversation is short, though during that time, Chang gives me odd looks at my quick one or two-word answers. Closing the phone, I shove it back in my pocket and close my eyes for a moment, trying to take in what was and wasn't said. "That bad?"

"Yes and no. Agent Reilly won't be visiting me today due to an emergency. You try to fill in the blanks." Picking up the paintbrush again, I continue my task.

Black eyes narrow as he contemplates the matter, "We'll have to wait to see what Barton and Winner come back with I suppose, though there's nothing saying that I can't check in and demand an update."

"Aren't you suppose to be keeping a close eye on me?" It's a legitimate question and I'm pretty sure that I can't be around when he calls.

"You're quite preoccupied at the moment," the smirk he gives me, gives me a bit of a chill. Chang is creepy when he's trying to be evil.

Cleaning up from putting the first coat of paint on, I move to the next one to prime it. Guess it couldn't hurt to give him some backup, "After I finish this, I've got to cut out the other one." The sound of the saw will most likely be picked up by the phone in Wufei's apartment, giving his reasoning credibility and then he can just fill me in later.

Glancing at his watch, he notes the time and how long the other two will have been there. "I don't suppose you could hold off until the afternoon for that, could you?"

"Sure. I've been meaning to go out and get the controllers so I can have the wiring and the boards. I also wanted to pick up a few things for my truck and the bikes." So I take care of all the bikes as well as all the vehicles…in a way it's rather amusing since we each didn't want anyone else touching our Gundams. It's nice to have that much trust from Wufei and Heero.

"Do you think that I could convince you to do some work on my car?" Cleaning up from priming the second one, I swear I can hear the gears turning in his head. As long as he can prove that I'm being kept busy while he's catching up with them, then we can slide through this information blockade that the Preventers are trying to keep on me.

Smirking, I tease him, "Sure, I can work on that piece of shit you drive."

"Asshole."

"Yep, got one of those," I throw at him flippantly as I pass – heading out of the garage. I'm such a bastard sometimes, but it's fun to get the Chinese man going.

Running upstairs to grab my keys and wallet, I find Chang already standing by my truck. "Just to warn you, it has been awhile since my car has been serviced due to the fact that my mechanic overworks himself."

"Yeah, yeah…you're just too lazy to do it yourself," I comment, sliding into the driver's seat.

Backing out of the driveway, he parries, "When I have the luxury of having someone that lives upstairs from me that is far better with mechanics than I am to do it…you must be joking." We laugh, and then the shadows of my mind jump on that one piece.

Before I can stop the comment as well as the serious expression from creeping to my face, I voice, "Hey, Wufei…when Heero catches wind of how badly I fucked up, I really don't think you're going to have me as your personal grease monkey anymore."

"Yuy isn't going to kill you."

Heh… "No, I figured he wouldn't since I seem to have committed career suicide, but he probably won't stand for having me as his roommate anymore."

I can feel black eyes digging holes into the side of my head. "Honestly, I don't think that Yuy is that much of a perfectionist. You need to stop trying to live up to the standards that everyone has set for him and live up to the ones that you've set for yourself. Personally, I don't think I would want a second one of him around just as I would not want a second of you, Barton, or Winner. We are all unique individuals, Duo, and I think you need to give him more of a chance to see and understand the situation before jumping the proverbial gun."

"No harm in being prepared," I throw out in my general devil-may-care attitude, but in all reality, it's driving me more nuts than I already am.

"Try running and I will break your legs." Chang leans back, closing his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest.

Damn… "Wufei, you frighten me some days."

"Good."

I let our conversation lapse into silence. It doesn't stay there long as I pull up to our first destination. Finding a reasonably good parking spot, I hop out and find Chang looking at the place wearily.

Shrugging, I head in…if I can get at least four controllers, I should be good because then I can salvage my two. If I can get six, it would be perfect. I kind of want to send the third one up as an extra gift since I'm going to presume that Hilde probably let the cat out of the bag already and told them that two were coming. Either that or I could keep it until they break another one.

Entering the store, I mentally note the things I put myself through for these kids sometimes. At least it's early enough in the day that all the ones that would be hanging out here are still in school. I can sense Chang browsing the shelves behind me, trying his best to ignore the guy glaring at us from behind the counter. Gee, so glad I didn't want help.

Finding what I need, I make my time in the video game store quick, much to Chang's liking. Normally I might be tempted to browse and see what else there is, but I wasn't feeling all that welcome.

"Why six?" He looks over his shoulder to the back seat where the controllers lay.

Geez, you'd think it'd be fairly obvious… "It takes two to make one of the controllers I'm building. The ones at the house are going to be dual controllers."

Sitting back in place, Chang scares me, "That explains the size now. I was not positive on that, though I suppose it makes sense since the one in the picture was like that."

"You're slipping, Wufei," I joke.

Black eyes drift to staring out the window, watching the traffic around us with disinterest, "I have had a lot on my mind recently."

Haven't we all? "Yeah, I hear you on that."

Chang crosses his arms over his chest, though still looking at whatever it is out his window that has him fascinated, "This is a truly frustrating time…I can only imagine how much more frustrating it must be in your position."

"I'd like to think that I'm managing well." Really, I would. Sure, I'm going nuts, but I'm actually not acting on any ideas that have crossed my mind.

It doesn't take me long to get to the automotive store, and walking in, I feel even more like a traitor than at the clothing store, but there simply aren't any scrap yards around here. I've tried the local dump for parts, but that's always been raided completely by the mechanics.

"So what did you want done on your car, Wufei?" I ask as I browse the shelves looking for parts to satisfy my little pet projects.

Even with him behind me, I get a chill from the grin on his face, "Well, it is almost due for an oil change and probably long overdue for a tune-up. Oh, and if you get a chance, I had gotten a new radio for it, but haven't had the time or ambition to install it myself."

Hanging my head in defeat, I come to the conclusion that I shouldn't have asked that, "I should charge you for labor, Chang."

"Just think of it as an opportunity to keep your skills sharp." Out of the corner of my eye, I can see him looking at the wiper blades. The things I do for information…

We banter back and forth, and I get from him exactly what he wants done to his vehicle and we discuss what upgrades I should do to the bikes. While our conversation stays light and completely away from anything regarding what is currently going on, my mind takes the chance to play with darker thoughts.

I'm like a disease that has been plaguing humanity. Now if I hadn't participated on such a grand scale in the wars, I'd be lying, but I survived my earlier years by stealing and riding on the generosity of others. Not exactly something to be proud of, but the stealing part is what kept me alive after those who foolishly threw their lives away to care for me died.

I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but…they didn't deserve to die…a lot of people that I personally killed probably didn't deserve to die either, but in the end, I suppose the past is the past. There ain't nothing I can do to change it.

"Ow! What'd you do that for!" I turn and glare at Chang who seems quite ready to hit me with the package of wiper blades again.

"I told you – stop leaving your mouth running." Double-checking that it didn't betray me while I took care of other matters, I snag the item from him before he can whap me with them again.

"Who says I left my mouth running?" I retort, finding nothing out of the ordinary.

"The black cloud above your head."

Rolling my eyes, I go back to trying to find the right air filter for Wufei's car. Why he has to drive something that is hard to get parts for, I'll never know. "You better be paying for your own parts, Chang," I comment, finally finding the one I need, "Because your car is expensive to shop for."

"True, but my choice of vehicle suits me." I just shake my head and keep moving to find the next thing on my mental list.

Satisfied that I have found everything I need for my truck, Chang's car, and all three of our bikes, I head towards the counter, occasionally pausing to look at something that catches my interest. At one point he takes the basket that I was carrying when I put it down to look at something. By the time I look back up, he's standing by the door waiting for me to finish. "Hey, what'd you do with my stuff?"

"I just put it all together. Consider it a form of payment." Pain in the ass…now I can't give him a hard time about it.

Right now I am so tempted to just kick him out the door, but I guess I got to get him back in one piece so he can make his phone call and I can help get him off the hook.

Climbing back into my truck, I pose a thought that just crossed my mind. "Wufei, do you mind if I listen in on the actual conversation?"

"Hm?" The look on his face tells me not to bring up topics so abruptly. "I don't have a problem with it, but the woman is going to wonder why I'm not keeping you in my sight."

Heh…what little he knows… "I can still do the whole making noise in the garage thing, but I'll need to 'tap' your phone first. I have wireless earbuds that I can listen in on and since there's no mic, well…you won't be hearing a peep out of me. Well, you'll be hearing what you want, but not directly of course."

I can sense that since-when-did-you-get-that look from Chang, but he doesn't question that, "She is going to want a secure line and surely that'll be noticed."

"I have a way around that already." For the life of me, I can't wipe the mischievous smirk off my face. Breaking the rules without anyone knowing about it is so much fun sometimes.

Yes, I'm messed up in the head – we know this already, otherwise I wouldn't be in the situation I'm in.

Once we get in, I run upstairs after dropping the purchases in the garage. Knocking before I enter Chang's domain, I inquire, "Don't they think I would've gotten just a little suspicious with you being not at work?"

"Yes, but my story was supposed to be that they felt that it would be better if someone you knew was around," the Chinese man gestured towards the phone he intended to use.

Sitting down in front of the vid phone, I grab the receiver, pulling it apart so I could attach my toy. It's a rather simple means of getting around a physical tap on the line, which could be detected easily by Preventer HQ, no matter how hard I tried to mask it. The only reason I know this is because I helped set the system up and tested it out, which is how I got my current little gadget. It hasn't been used for a long time so we'll see what happens when I turn it on.

Thinking about it, I was in on a lot of the recent security upgrades. Both Heero and I were, actually. I forget the exact reasoning, but while he's got high-level skills, I'm apparently too unpredictable for them, and I can backdoor my way into places I shouldn't be, so they wanted to use my skills to test for the uncommon attempts.

There's simply no way to cover everything and that's where I tend to strike. Hey…on the streets, it isn't how strong you are, but how fast you can find your opponent's weakness and exploit it. Solo knew what he was talking about when he taught me that. I was just stubborn and foolhardy sometimes in believing that I should give someone a fair fight.

"You're not tapping my phone, you're bugging it." Chang wins the prize for stating the obvious.

"Essentially, yes, technically, this little thing is still a tap. In all reality, it's just word games that mean nothing other than I get to listen in. Since I might not get to hear everything on the first pass due to my making noise, it will also record to this," I comment, holding up what looks like a normal personal music player. "Johnson was pissed when he couldn't figure out how I was listening in during the phone system tests. It's the only thing that has made it past Preventer security."

"Where did you get it?" Chang picked up one of the pieces that I still needed to attach.

I just can't stop grinning…it's not everyday that I get a chance to outsmart Preventer security. "Oh, it was just a little something I cooked up in my spare time. I couldn't bear to tell them how I managed it so it's an unknown device."

"Good…I don't want to have to pull my phone apart for them. I'll make sure that any other phone calls I make are either from the other phone or my mobile phone so we don't have to take this apart all the time…" Something is still on his mind about it though. "Should we inform Barton and Winner?"

"I really don't know…I think it depends on whose side they're playing on." Really, I hate to do this, but if they aren't playing on our side, I don't want to tip my hand.

"It's hard to tell…" It isn't like Wufei to be unsure like this. "I think it'll be safer to leave it and inform them at a proper time."

"Sure thing – I won't tell if you don't." Another words, those two are trying to keep a low profile even as they keep digging, or at least that's my guess anyway. Getting up, I do the cliché thing of dusting off my hands. "Well, there you go…now if you'll excuse me, I need to go make a lot of noise."

Snagging the small music player and headphones, I pause by the door when he asks, "What do I have to do to activate it?"

"Nothing, that's the beauty of that little toy of mine. It'll activate as soon as you either start to make a call or answer a call…plus it records a lot more than just audio." With my hand on the doorknob, I hold myself from opening it.

"Duo, some of the things you create scare me sometimes."

True, but… "I find it's better to stay three steps ahead of the competition, but the downfall to using this is the setup and breakdown time required." Taking my leave, I pop the innocent enough looking earbuds in and turn on my recorder before opening the garage door again.

As I prepare to cut the board, I wait until my housemate begins his call. I might as well save the background noise all for Une. Unfortunately, it won't take me long to get through this, so I hope his conversation is rather quick, but informative.

Hearing their conversation begin, I provide Wufei's cover. Unfortunately, most of the conversation is being drowned out by the saw, but since it's being recorded, I'm not going to worry too much.

Their discussion continues to drag on as I finish. Picking up the drill, I set about putting it together…I'll clean up when I can stop making so much noise. Une is asking about me as if I have some kind of disease. I really wish people would get it through their heads that there's nothing wrong with me.

Finding myself at a loss as to what else to do now that it is assembled, I just replace the other one to prime. Since both the ones I worked on this morning are dry, I also paint those…adding a second coat to the first one, before moving back to prime the one I just finished putting together.

I almost want to laugh at Une's pestering Wufei that it has gotten quiet, though swallow the thought when she wants to talk to me. Chang's phone has a decent cordless range for audio only, which means that he can come into the garage with it and have no issues what-so-ever. I am so screwed…

He's arguing with Une, saying that I'm probably in the middle of something and can't be disturbed. And yet she's still insistent on talking to me. Grumbling for her to hold, I can hear him put the handset down and the door to his apartment.

Turning in time to greet him, I pull the headphones out of my ears. "I take it you caught the last of that then."

"Yeah…I just need to clean up here. Sorry I ran out of noisy things to do. Missed most of the first part of the conversation, but I'll play it back later." Please stall her for awhile…I don't want to deal with her yet, honest.

Running a hand over his tightly pulled back hair, he apologizes, "I had not been planning to have been on that call for this amount of time. You better get in there and talk to her. She wants to speak with you privately."

Handing over the receiver/recorder, I silently do as I have been requested. Reaching Chang's apartment, I plaster on my jester's mask and get into the mindset of not knowing what's going on, but at the same time, I need to keep up with my own issues at hand, "Good afternoon, Lady Une. Chang tells me that you wanted to talk to me. Does that mean I can go back to work now?"

"Not yet, Duo," awe shit…she used my first name, this can't be good. "Agent Reilly is almost finished evaluating you. I wanted to talk to you about a recent event regarding your partner."

Feeling the handset slipping from my hand, I grip it quickly before it falls, "What happened to Yuy!" I press, barely containing the thoughts of him lying in a pool of his own blood. I saw that twice…never again, thank you very kindly.

"Calm down, Maxwell. He simply hasn't checked-in yet. You know the protocol regarding people missing check-ins. He doesn't have family, but I chose to inform you since you're both his partner and his roommate." Those brown eyes lock onto mine, keeping me still.

Dropping the nice act, I retort, "Both you and I know that it isn't like Heero to miss a check-in." I've had this conversation before, but not with her.

Une appears to be exhausted, "We're looking into it now. Keep your mobile phone on you – I will keep you informed of any changes."

Seeing her reach to end the call, I halt her, "Ma'am, let me help. I can find Heero. I mean…"

The head of the Preventer Corp holds up her hand for me to stop. "I understand, Duo…I don't want to take you off your downtime any earlier than I have to though, so until we need you, please relax. If it gets to that point, we'll need someone with a refreshed mind."

Biting my tongue before I get myself into hotter water than I already am, I simply nod my reply. My best friend could be lying bleeding to death somewhere and they're sitting at HQ, bickering amongst themselves. Sometimes I wonder why I stuck around and played by their rules.

"I'll keep you updated," with that, she cut the connection and I bolt for the recorder currently in Chang's possession.

Nearly bowling the Chinese man over, not realizing that he had been lurking in the hallway, he grabs both of my upper arms and squeezes rather tightly, "I'm not going to let you ruin your career like this, Duo."

Still in the process of flinching from his grip, my mind tries to catch up, but fails, "My career is pretty much already in ruin, Wufei. I want that damn recorder – I need to know what went on when you were getting an update from Une."

Looking at me funny, he loosens his grip, "You're not going to take off and cause trouble in regards to finding Yuy?"

"I don't have enough facts yet to make a move. I'll play their game for now, but only for so long." Reaching for the device in Chang's hands, he pulls it away.

"I'll be honest, you didn't miss much," he pushes me back into his apartment, "Mostly she was talking about what you found out already. However, there's a discrepancy in Kenyon's story and they haven't managed to get him to talk yet."

Reaching for it again only to have it pulled away, I argue, "Look, Wufei, if there's a chance that I can help, then I'm going to take it. Even if I have to do it from the shadows."

"You need to calm down first. Go clean up the garage while I go make us a late lunch."

Grumbling to myself, I do as I'm told. Yeah, one does need a level head for this, but all the same, I would like to wrap my hands around Kenyon's neck and throttle him until either he talks or his head falls off, whichever comes last. Hey, doesn't hurt to try for both, right?

Snatching up the broom, I'm kind of sad that Chang closed the garage door, but it's better than having unwanted visitors. None of us really got beyond that paranoia – it's one thing to trust each other, it's another to trust the world in the same regard.

Satisfied that I got the sawdust off the garage floor, I head back in, calmer than I had been. It's odd, but I find simple cleaning, like sweeping stuff up, somewhat meditative. Catching a whiff of what's cooking, my stomach decides to voice that it's hungry. I honestly don't know why, I fed it this morning.

Lunch is eaten in silence – it seems as if both of us have a lot to think about. All of this makes no sense…the games that are going on make no sense what so ever. I'm in, yet I'm still out, and I want to be in completely, but they seem to want me out.

I'm going to give myself a headache thinking about it. "Is there anything else that I should be prepared for on the recorder?"

Wufei seems to be surprised at the sudden break in silence. "Winner and Barton arrive at one point. Mostly to verify what I told that woman you were doing. Actually, it was Winner that pushed the issue regarding notification of next of kin."

Pointing at my face, I retort, "I don't even look like his next of kin."

"A mere technicality. Since outside of Winner, none of us have family, Une decided to have each of us listed as the other's next of kin incase the need arose. It seems to have worked out in our favor this time," there's something going on in Chang's head and I wish I knew what it was.

Heh… "You make it sound as if she's been trying to protect us all this time." Sure didn't seem that way when I was in her office last week.

Was it only last week? Seemed so long ago now.

"Perhaps in a way she was as much as I would like to deny that fact. That woman may have been our enemy at first, but there are many others that would prefer to see us eliminated. While it was never made public who we are in regards to having been Gundam pilots, it wouldn't surprise me if there are others in the Preventer ranks who know and wish to have us removed," Chang seems more aggravated at the stray lock of hair that fell out of his rat tail than the fact that there might be someone out there trying to kill him or any of us.

Suppose I can't blame him – we were all desensitized to the thoughts of our deaths long before any of us fell to the Earth with our Gundams. "Could also be that someone hates the fact that punk kids have a higher rank than they do. Remember Kenyon?"

"You may be a punk kid, Duo, but don't put me in the same classification," I'm not sure if he's trying to be funny or not as he has a glaring contest with the lock of hair that simply won't stay back. "In any case, you do raise a valid point. However, having talked to Kenyon, I don't think that's his motivation."

"Just a little too eager to please and takes on more than he can chew? You have to admit, the idea of offing one of us probably crossed his mind though. The easiest way to advance is to eliminate those above you and then you can coast right in." Putting my glass down when I realize that I started the annoying habit again of swirling the contents inside, I sit back and look across at my housemate.

The Chinese man pauses to consider it, "You have a point, but he wouldn't be next in line to replace any of us. His recall of the events during Yuy's last check-in were in counterpoint to each other. Une didn't give me any details."

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see if Quatre and Trowa come back with anything then. Q did say that it felt like he was hiding something, right?" Feeling that this conversation had leveled off to a point where I wouldn't choke on my food from a sudden revelation, I take a bite of my quickly cooling lunch.

"Yes, but it has yet to be determined if that was due to the line securing issue or something else." Damn, go ruin my wonderful theories why don't you? Not that I had a theory really.

The remainder of our meal was unproductive since we were still missing way too many variables still to even attempt to start solving it. After listening to the recording, I didn't have anything new that I wanted to bring up with Chang. What I want to do is get in there and just tear Kenyon apart until he talks, but in my own special manner. I have a way with getting the information I want during interrogations, but right now, their probably just holding meetings. Kenyon may be green, but he's good…for a rookie.

Sitting sideways in the chair in Chang's living room with my legs dangling over the arm, I mentally bring up what I know about the guy while staring blankly at the television. I'd call him a kid, but for some reason, it doesn't suit him even though he's our age.

Graduated top of his class, likes to take special trainings whenever they're offered, admires Heero like no tomorrow…

Admires Heero…and he managed to get a high profile case to work on with him…it just doesn't fit. "Hey, do we know how Kenyon managed to get the case with Heero?"

Looking up from his book, he hesitated before answering, "No, actually, but if I remember correctly, he doesn't like you."

Oh boy does he not like me… "Yeah, because in all the trainings that I've ever taught that he's attended, he barely passes. He definitely doesn't like people putting bad marks on his training record. It got to a point that if he found out that I was the one teaching the course and he didn't need to satisfy a requirement with it, he'd avoid it at all costs."

"Do you have something against him?"

Hm…I tap the edge of the recorder against my chin while I contemplate the question. "Outside of the guy is a wimp and a brown-noser, no, but generally I just don't deal with him anyway. I don't pass people easily – anyone that has managed to survive will tell you that. So I'm guessing there are a lot of people who don't like me. What makes him so special in terms of that? He's one that has managed to pass most of them…barely. He did fail the one that I worked with Heero on teaching. The guy simply isn't cut out to be in the field where he could get into a street fight and anything goes."

"Did you embarrass him in front of a lot of people?" Reaching behind his head to grab the elastic, Chang let his hair loose momentarily before trying to pull it and the previously escaped locks back.

I raise an eyebrow at him and almost tell him to leave it down, but there are more important matters at hand. "You were there for that, Wufei, remember? We took them individually to test so that we didn't embarrass them, and you and Sally did the evaluations."

"Ah…I remember that," the look on the Chinese man's face shows his disdain of the memory, "He was pitiful and you were holding back. I called that test over early because I could not stand to listen to him continue to whine about how something you did was not fair."

"Yeah, he…" I shut my mouth when Chang's house phone rings and he gives me the one-minute sign. I turn my recorder on just in case it's someone from the office and pop my earbuds in. I know I'm in sight of the vid phone, but you know what? If it is Une checking up, she'll see that Chang is doing the task that they asked him to.

"Wufei," a slight accented, quiet voice comes on the line. I have to resist looking up at the phone in surprise that it's our next-door neighbor.

I curse mentally as my mobile phone starts vibrating in my pocket. Yanking the headphones off, I quickly answer, "Maxwell." I didn't need to listen in on that conversation anyway.

"Duo…it's Phoenix, I hope you don't mind me calling you like this," it's hard to pinpoint what it is that is making her nervous outside of actually calling me.

"Nah, it's good to hear from you. What's up, girlie?" I glance over at the time quickly. I wonder if she's calling since Wufei and I haven't made an appearance on the courts yet today. It's not like we ever made plans to go, but it just happened yesterday.

"I finally got a job. The café in town just called me back," slowly her nervousness is being replaced by excitement.

Ah, if only the rest of us could live so innocently, though for some reason I have a feeling that isn't appropriate to say in regards to the orphan on the other end of the line. "That's awesome – when do you start?"

"Monday – she said she didn't want me to start on the weekend since it tends to be rather hectic. I was starting to worry that I'd never find anything…most places turned me away the moment they saw my name on the application. Guess I'd bring them a lot of headaches if it got out," glancing over at the Chinese man, I note that he's still having his quiet little phone conversation, though the mix of frustration and relief didn't go unnoted either. Honestly, I think both of us need this break from all this speculating. Until we can get more information, there's no point in wasting our energy on it.

Our conversation stays light and it helps me ground myself. Darker thoughts still lurk at the back of my mind and I can feel them just watching for now. Watching and waiting for the opportunity to point out that no matter how much I try, I'm still a fuck-up.

I hate the way I can get emo with myself sometimes, but it's a hard habit to break. That's another reason I had put forth so much effort as a Preventer…I have something to prove to myself.

"Hey, Duo…do you think Master Winner is mad at me from the other day? He seemed a little upset yesterday." Awe shit…how do I explain this one?

Speaking of, the twosome makes their reappearance and look completely wiped from the day. "Nah, Q isn't mad at you. He just has a lot going on right now that's a little tedious. Though I really don't think he'd mind if you called him Quatre. Right, Q?" I stare right at the blonde who just looks hopelessly confused.

"He's there right now!" I can hear the embarrassment in her voice.

I laugh, this really is a nice break, though I notice that Chang has long since finished his phone call, "He and Tro just walked in."

"Who are you talking to?" Winner starts pestering me, having given up trying to figure it out on his own.

"Here, why don't you talk to him for awhile," I smirk upon hearing her squeak in horror as I pass it over to him, "It's Phoenix – she got the job at the café in town."

His face brightens up as he takes my phone, replacing his earlier appearance of being completely drained. I guess good news is catchy. Leaving him to his conversation, I turn back to the Chinese man since Trowa took off into the bedroom to shed his uniform.

"Archer also had good news in regards to her being proposal being accepted to teach a self-defense seminar at the Preventer headquarters," he shares.

Well, there's something new to me, "I didn't know she was looking to teach a class at HQ."

"Yes, I had helped her work on it. I have also been helping her off and on with her application into the Special Op program. That stubborn woman didn't want to join the Preventer Corp until after she reached shodan." It's hard to tell if Wufei is put off by this or if he actually is trying not to show how he really feels about it.

"Odd how the local girls get us so easily distracted, isn't it?" I put out there to see which way he'll take it.

His eyes narrow, but the brief smirk that passes through his expression tells me all that I need to know. Originally I thought Chang was a sexist pig and an embarrassment to the male population, but I think it's more that he wants to so badly protect what his culture sees as the weaker sex. He's toned down a lot in recent years, especially having been partnered with Sally.

A few moments of silence pass before a PDA is dropped onto my lap again. Picking it up, I wave thanks back over my head at Trowa, "Guess play time is over – back to work."

"They are still working on checking the audio file to see if it had been altered in any way," is the response I get.

Hm…that doesn't seem right. "Who is working on it?"

"Baker."

I turn around to fully look at him, "Chris? You've got to be kidding. This stuff is what the guy lives for – he'd know in probably five minutes if it had been altered. Well, maybe an hour if it's a pro job, but most of the stuff that we've ever had to send to him to sniff out is amateur-grade material."

Getting my phone handed back to me, obviously with the call having been ended, Quatre goes back into work-mode, "We weren't able to get it to him until the end of the day. He said he was going to stay late tonight to try to get through it, but right now he's backlogged on work. We were promised first thing in the morning though that he'd take care of it if he didn't get to it before he had to leave."

Turning back to the device, I start flipping through it. Something just doesn't seem right. I should be pulling the back up of the original recording, but maybe they don't want to tip their hand yet. If that's the case, let me get it quietly and I'll be able to get the answers I need. I just can't go and grab it myself without it showing that I accessed the damn thing.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

"Anyone remember whose turn it is to make dinner?" the blonde inquires innocently. "If not, I volunteer Duo."

Hey! "Now wait one Goddamn minute…"

"I don't have a problem with that," Trowa chimes in.

"I second Barton."

Hanging my head in defeat, I cut back, "You guys are cruel."

After some debate, I trudge back upstairs to handle the task designated to me. Sometimes I wonder how I walk into situations like that. Actually, I think I was dragged into this one.

Ah well…guess I better get to work. At least Wufei had the decency to point me in a position to start from otherwise I'd be picking up the phone and ordering take-out.

In the other room, I can hear the others setting up a working area – we'll probably just all wind up on the floor around the coffee table. Good thing I'm such a nice guy, or I might be tempted to put a little something in their food for payback.

The rest of the evening goes by in a blur. It seems like there's a lot of information going around, but it's mostly the same stuff, just from a different perspective. At one point when Trowa pulled up a copy of the audio file, I ran out of the room to grab my big noise reducing headphones. Sometimes there's something in the background that makes a world of difference. There was a weird hum, but that's about it. Without the equipment to analyze it, everything I have is speculation, but I did bring to the floor that and the fact that the recording didn't start before Kenyon picked up, as is protocol. In fact, is shouldn't even be his option to not start recording as soon as the call came in – the system does it on its own, which means that this has to have been tampered with. Either that or that machine is failing, but I wouldn't put my money on that…the check-in sounds normal except without all the extra lead-in time. It had to have been altered. Dammit, and I can't get the backup system without it recording my entry. We put that in as a precautionary measure in case someone tried to frame us of altering files as well.

And right now, I'm stuck on this vacation/suspension thing of Une's and she is refusing to allow me to come in just to give them the files they need.

Man, did I fuck this up big time…  
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Fin  
by JeiC  
September 2006  
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Author's Notes: I may be delayed for the next few chapters due to major projects and mid-terms coming up. I will do what I can to stay to my two-week schedule, but…if I don't get it done on time, I apologize in advance.  
Also, I cross-post this on deviantart, and Eikou Studios…yeah, I know, Eikou Studios is under construction, but it's always under construction – at least my fics and vids are up and viewable. Everything else…well, it'll get there eventually.  
I am so, so very sorry for the delay with this chapter. For those of you who read this on my DA page, you're lucky as to knowing why. Anyway, more bad news…chapter 8 is also going to be delayed by at least a week since I'm running away for awhile (plus there's finals before that). Hopefully I'll have wonderful pictures to share to make up for all of it…including new cosplay pics.

On a side note:  
Don't try to cut out 25 yards of material in one day…your hand will not like you afterwards.

Special thanks to:  
**Phaenilix and anf600:** Thanks so much for the reviews guys. Heh, it feels as soon as mid-terms are done, I'm prepping for finals. Ah well.  
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	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I really should just make one catch-all disclaimer and use it all the time, but alas, I write a new one every time. So it's gonna be the same old I don't own Gundam Wing or Evanescence, but I did write this story so please keep my name on it if you're gonna pass it along.  
Author's Notes: Notes at the end.  
Warnings: angst, language, yaoi implications

**Away From Me  
Chapter 8**

by JeiC_  
_ ----------  
_ I look into myself, but my own heart has been changed_  
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Waking up slowly, I close my eyes once my brain catches up with the fact that I have the most splitting headache. Reaching over, I turn my alarm off before it can add to it and simply doze for a while, not really caring what time it is.

Sure, I should keep working on trying to figure out what the hell is going on with Heero, but I simply can't motivate myself to move right now. Just the fact that it's my partner in trouble should be enough to get me to get going, but I almost feel like I've been drugged or something. Since I made supper last night, it certainly wasn't in my food.

Just going to keep my eyes closed for a little longer…

"Maxwell! Maxwell! Dammit, Duo! Wake up!" I can feel a hand on my shoulder, shaking me, but not enough to push me onto my back or my stomach. Normally, that's a very dangerous position to be in because whoever's hand it is would have been broken in at least three places by now.

Cracking an eye open, I glance up at my human alarm clock, "Just let me sleep, Wufei. My head is killing me."

I notice Quatre and Trowa standing in the doorway to my room before closing my eyes again. Not two seconds later, I'm being hauled up into a sitting position, "Duo, I told you to get up!"

"Dammit, Wufei. Can't a guy get any sleep around here?!" Ow…that hurt. No yelling for me. Bad enough it sounds like Chang is yelling at me inside my head.

It feels like no sooner did the Chinese man let go of me, but someone is doing their level best to check my vitals before I sink back down under the covers. As soon as I try though, strong arms hold me up against the headboard and an emerald eye stares at my eye that's being propped open. "Doesn't look like he's been drugged."

"I have a fucking headache. Isn't that enough to want to stay in bed?!" Apparently I didn't listen to my advice about yelling. "'sides…it's not like I have anywhere I need to go."

"We're sorry for waking you up so rudely, but we were worried when you wouldn't answer your door or your phone," the blonde apologizes for the group.

What? How did I not hear any of that? Sitting up fully on my own, I lean forward, bracing my head on my hand and my elbow on my knee. Damn I feel like shit. I have no idea why either, which I think is pissing me off more. "So you broke into the apartment to wake me out of a sound sleep?"

"You know that I have keys to get in here if I need to as do you for mine," Chang chides, "However, given the time of day, it was a necessary course of action."

Though I'm not sure I want to know the answer, I ask anyway, "Why? What time is it?" About the only thing I know right now is that Heero is scheduled back in six days, but who knows now that he's gone MIA.

"It's nearly seven now," a quiet voice interludes.

Seven…seven what? Oh, seven in the morning probably. For some reason, that doesn't bother me even though I normally would have been up and going a couple of hours ago at least.

"What time to you get to sleep last night?" Quatre prods gently.

Sleep? Dammit brain – start functioning. Doesn't help that my head is still pounding. "Not sure…I know it was late. Something came up while I was drifting. I tracked the son-of-a-bitch forever, but lost the trail when my screen started flashing obnoxiously. Had all the markings of Heero too."

"You were looking for Heero?" Quatre's concern grows by the second, "Don't you think that's a little dangerous giving his current situation?"

I really don't feel like getting into an argument, "Next time tell the asshole to not get my attention then. I was just drifting, seeing if any information passed my way."

Watching Trowa move, he looks between my desktop and my laptop. "Which one were you on?"

"The monster…it has more power and capabilities than the laptop. Why does it matter?" Brain needs to catch up quickly because the conversation is running away at light-speed.

I want to yell at him to keep his hands off my stuff, but I stay quiet since loud noises right now are bad. Instead, I half watch him turn it on and get himself a guest account onto my system. There's a loophole that I'll need to patch. Need to beef up my own security. "There's a chance that the reason for your headache was the flashing."

"It isn't doing it now…" Quatre walks over to stand behind his partner.

Ugh…I think I left out information there. Just what was it though… "It didn't start until he paused. It stopped after about five to ten seconds. Just long enough for me to lose him. A few minutes later I decided I had too much of a headache to try and pick up the trail again and just went to bed."

"Damn!" a soft curse comes from the direction of my computer. Refocusing my eyes on the screen, I try to make out what was on it.

Oops, forgot about that little attack dog. "Forget it Tro…you're not going to get anywhere now."

Getting out of bed slowly, I try to finger-brush my hair down, but stop at the base of my braid. Giving up on that, I scoot Barton out of my way and get into my system. I like to keep records, I can't help it, so there's a log from last night that I pull up and work my way through until I reach the flashy part.

A small bottle of pills appears on the desk next to me. "Take some, Maxwell."

"You know I don't care to take stuff like that." Nope, don't like drugs of any kind…though I will admit that I do have my limits before accepting some sort of medicinal aide.

That obnoxious bottle of pills that Yuy likes to keep around appears way too close in front of me. "You look like you're ready to pass out. Take some before I shove it down your throat."

I bite down on most of the not so nice things that run through my head, but not all of them, "Try and I'll shove it up your ass, Chang. You're the one that physically hauled me out of a sound sleep."

"Hey you guys…lets not fight over this," Quatre steps in to break the potential full-blown argument up.

Slowly catching up, I ask, "Aren't you guys suppose to be at HQ soon?"

The blonde's face pales quickly, staring blankly at my desk so his partner picks up the slack, "We were told to not to come in until later this morning."

Raising an eyebrow at Barton, I note, "You guys didn't say anything last night."

Giving up trying to force-feed me the meds, Chang replies first, "We just got the call this morning."

Shrugging, I realize that I could honestly care less. I don't like that, but I just can't bring myself to be worried about it. At least not right now.

Going through the record slowly, I realize it wasn't that whoever I was chasing decided to make my screen flash, it was because they were dumping a mass amount of information onto my system. Why didn't I notice that last night? "Shit…that was Heero. He dumped his stuff from information gathering onto my system last night." At least the bastard is still alive.

"This isn't good…" Winner comments quietly, "How are we suppose to get this to the office? Lady Une is going to want to know why you were looking for Heero when he's in a dangerous position."

Er…damn. "Once this headache dies down, I can probably deliver it to Une's machine, acting as if I was Heero."

"You have other obligations this morning, do you not?" Black eyes attempt to assess my current status since I'm not forcibly trying to keep myself propped up anymore.

Blinking, it takes me a moment. Ugh…damn, the shrink. "You had to remind me."

"Go take a shower and get ready – I'll make you something for breakfast," the Chinese man states simply and leaves the bedroom.

Locking my computer down, I get up and do as I'm told – half forgetting that Quatre and Trowa are still there. Leaving them to figure out how to get out of the room on their own, I find the shower. I feel icky and crappy and just in general need of one. Wonder how they put up with me so far in my disgusting state.

The heat from the water helps ease my headache and the tension in my muscles. I kind of wish I had time to go out for a run before Ms. Reilly shows up at my doorstep, but it'll just have to wait.

Feeling a bit more refreshed, I kick Quatre and Trowa out so I can change – they had taken to amusing themselves looking through my photo albums again. Brushing my hair out slowly, I can smell the food that Chang is whipping up. I have to admit, it smells damn good, but my appetite simply isn't there. Why is he bothering to put himself out like this? He should just let me fend for myself.

Sitting back down at my computer, I get back into the files that were hastily dumped onto my system. Why me? Why not the Preventers directly? Well, guess since he doesn't know the mess I'm in he probably figures I'll pass stuff along and whatnot. It's not going to be easy to masquerade myself as Heero and dump them onto Une's system.

Maybe I shouldn't bother. Maybe I should just walk in there with a data disc in hand and just tell them that Yuy contacted me. Beats all this undercover bullshit that I've been playing in for awhile. I'm sick of the lies and deceit.

"Duo?" I whip around to see who was dumb enough to stick their head in my door.

Without meaning to, I snap, "What?!"

The blonde straightens up quickly, backing up a step, "Um, Wufei wanted me to come get you – he says breakfast is ready."

Deflating a bit, I apologize, "Sorry, Q. It's not you."

"I know, Duo," he empathizes.

Getting up, I brush my hair quickly – shoving a hair elastic into my pocket, "I'm just sick of these games. It would probably be better if I just walked in there and handed them a data disc of what Heero dumped on me. The guy did actually make contact with me of his own accord."

"That is true." Sympathetic light blue eyes turn on me, "This has been really rough on you, hasn't it, Duo?"

Trying to get the mass of wet hair to behave so it can be braided, I retort, "I'd personally use annoying and stupid." So mine is a little simpler than his – bite me. I finish tying off the end of my braid as we reach the kitchen/dining area.

Sitting down at the closest spot at the table, I lay my head down on it, ignoring the fact that Barton is trying to get me to move so he can put the food down in front of me. After being physically hauled upright by Chang again, I try to force myself to eat before he can make good on his continuing threats to shove it down my throat.

Well, at least he didn't grab my hair to pull me into a sitting position – I would have had to seriously hurt him then.

Don't get me wrong though, the food is fantastic as always, but like I said earlier – my appetite is shot. I should kill him anyway because I can taste just a hint of crushed up painkillers in it, but I'll get my revenge later. Oh, I'll get my revenge and it will be wonderful.

At least now I know why he was being so insistent, but it still doesn't explain why he bothered in the first place. Well, yeah, he's my friend, but he should know better than to drug me like that. I guess his intentions were well placed, but… "Wufei, next time you drug my food, I won't let you off so easily."

The shocked look on Quatre's face tells me that he wasn't in on the little scheme, but I wonder how much his partner approved, backed, or came up with the idea.

Chang doesn't even turn around from washing the dishes he used to reply to me, "It's for your own sake, Maxwell. If you want to get back to the office faster, you need to be at your best, and right now, you are far from it."

Flipping him off anyway, I somehow manage to finish my meal. Getting up, I go crash on the couch for a little while – it's still early enough that I'll have plenty of time to get my act together before the shrink gets here.

I doze off to the sounds of Quatre berating Wufei for even considering drugging me against my wishes. Ah well, at least I know where the little guys stands. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside…either that or it's the powerful painkillers are finally starting to take effect.

Yeah, Yuy doesn't keep the cheap, over-the-counter stuff handy because if any of us need it that badly, it isn't for something minor. That and at least both Heero and I are resistant to most drugs so we need a higher dosage for it to work at all…not sure about Chang.

It's just that…the flashing of my screen due to the massive data dump shouldn't have given me a headache at all never mind practically putting me out of commission. It just doesn't make sense.

A lot of things lately haven't made sense. Granted on a regular basis I don't make sense to people unless I have to, but that's just my personality.

"Duo…Duo…wake up."

Rubbing my eyes, I look up at someone who seems to have more self-preservation by not attempting to shake me awake. "What's wrong, Q? Is she here already?" Where's the damn clock when I want it? Oh yeah, I have a watch.

He answers before I can get the time, "No, but I thought you might like this while it's still hot."

"Huh?" I look at the steaming mug in front of me. Smells good…sweet.

"Hope you don't mind that I raided your hot chocolate," he looks a bit sheepish. Something just isn't sitting right, but it could be that my brain is trying to play catch-up again.

"As long as you didn't drug it, no." I gratefully accept the steaming mug, but wait for his answer even as I sniff it to try and make out any medicine-type smells.

The look on the blonde's face tells me that he's sorry for our friend's actions. "I promise I didn't drug it. I still can't believe that Wufei did that earlier."

Waving him off, I respond, "Normally, I'd kill him for it, but I have to admit, he had good reasoning."

"Are you feeling better?" Light blue eyes focus on me.

Taking a comforting sip from the mug, I grimace a little at how watered down it tastes. "Well, I don't feel like my head is trying to explode anymore so I guess that's an improvement." Looking straight ahead blankly, I think aloud, "It just doesn't make sense. The last time I had a headache this bad and this long was after I had my first, and thankfully only encounter with the Zero system."

"Do you think Zero had something to do with it?"

Looking at him, not thinking that he was actually paying attention to my random babble, I return, "I'm personally hoping that it's long gone, never to be resurrected."

Winner politely laughs, "You and Zero really never did get along, did you?"

"What gave you that impression? Anyway, I've been told that it's due to the fact that my brain doesn't work the same way everyone else's does, which is why I had such an 'adverse reaction' to the system. If you ask me, Zero wanted my blood." Making faces to match my dialogue, I kick back and continue to drink the not as chocolaty as I like goodness. At least he got off of wondering if I think that Zero was behind the data dump. Without having actually analyzed things, I really can't say, though the footprints are starting to look like a watered down version of it. It could also just be Heero messing with my head.

As the silence stretches a question comes to mind that I didn't ask before, but that was because at that point, I could care less, "I thought you guys were getting that audio file analyzed this morning."

"Apparently something came up and since they know that our investigation is on hold until we get that, I guess they figured to give us a little down time," Quatre shrugged. His response seemed genuine so I let it slide for now.

Finishing our drinks over idle chatter, I wash the mugs and simply put them in the drain to dry before ushering my friend out the door. I better go back to working on those controllers so that Ms. Reilly can report back. I have a feeling that her little doctor-patient confidentiality agreement doesn't apply to when her superiors want a report.

I could also just be paranoid, but sometimes it's safer that way. Just wonder if I should tip my hand to her or let the guys talk to Une. I'm going to go with the latter for now.

Quatre follows me and leans against the small wall between the two garage doors as I set about my ritual – he remains hidden from the outside. Breaking open the paint can, I give the last two a coat before going back to the first one. Should I try my hand at painting some design on it? It would distinguish it from the other two, that much is for certain. I have red, green, and blue LEDs to light the buttons when they're pushed so maybe some kind of tribal design mixed with gray and white? Though with the green I'm half tempted to try and paint Deathscythe's eyes. Stylized of course.

Heh, I guess the time I spent with Hilde rubbed off on me. This is what happens I suppose when one boards with an artist. She may be like a little sister to me, but she had a lot to teach me.

I think I'll hold off on the green one for now. How about blue? I think I'll try my hand at something magic-looking instead.

Cracking open the gray paint can without much of an idea in mind, I set about my new task. I can sense the blonde watching me closely.

After a few minutes, he speaks again, "I didn't know you were an artist, Duo."

"Heh…I wouldn't call me that so much as I've picked up a few things from hanging around with an artist for so long," I correct. Hilde kind of just dragged me along on her artistic adventures, and I can't say I didn't have fun, but it wasn't quite my cup of tea. I did learn a lot though.

"We'll see about that." For some reason, I don't like the ominous sound of that.

Silence follows and for a good long while, I just quietly work on the board. Once this dries, I'll layer white on it to give it a 3D effect before I start with the blue.

Hearing Quatre shush someone at the garage door, I turn to look over my shoulder. "Well, good morning." The shrink couldn't be a few minutes late, could she? Damn, and I was almost done.

"Good morning, Duo. Please, don't let me interrupt you. I didn't know you were an artist," Reilly tones nicely.

Opening my mouth to respond, Quatre beats me to it, "Duo says he isn't, but I have to disagree."

"I think I'm with you on this one, Agent Winner," the young woman smiles sweetly.

Shaking my head, I go back to what I was doing. "Geez, can't a guy try something different?"

"I just think it's wonderful to see you putting in so much time and effort on something that you could've easily taken shortcuts on and finished quickly. I'm sure the kids are going to love them since you're obviously making them from your heart." What she doesn't know is that I don't have a heart – just a lot of time of my hands and a cover that I don't want to blow.

Well, that and it was a request from Hilde and I really can't turn her down sometimes. Maybe I do have something resembling a heart…who knows.

I'm just kicking myself for being so easily distracted while my partner is out there trying to stay alive. Yes, I trust Heero to be able to take care of himself, but I loathe feeling this useless.

"If you want, we can talk down here I suppose…"

Finishing off what I had set out to do for this run, I turn and smile at her with the jester's mask fully in place. "No, it's fine. I have to let everything dry now anyway."

Waving to Quatre, I usher Nora out of the garage. I have a feeling that he was analyzing her. Guess I'll just have to poke him about it later.

Getting glasses of water, as is my routine, we again take up the same spots and I wait for her to begin. She takes longer than normal to seem to find what she wants to discuss. "Lady Une told me that she informed you about Agent Yuy's lack of transmission. Do you want to talk about it?"

Damn, it just had to be that. "You're going to have to be a little more specific."

"Oh, how to put this?" the Preventer official pauses, tapping her pen on her notebook, "Basically I want to know what your reactions are to that news."

"Well, I can't say that I haven't thought about going down to HQ and demanding to be let in on the investigation, but right now, I know that if I want to help Heero, I need to keep playing by the rules. Plus, I trust my partner to be able to handle himself in this sort of situation until he can reach help." Blunt and to the point…I'm tired of beating around the bush.

Again, the pen is going a mile a minute. "Trust me, Duo, I'm trying to help you through this as quickly as possible, but as much as I want to let you back, the powers that be have to be satisfied first." Brown eyes stare directly at me, conveying what she can't say. I have a feeling that someone is trying to hold Une down, and the Preventer head is doing everything in her power to give us as much freedom as she can without compromising her position. "Now, hypothetically, if you were at headquarters and on the investigation, what would you do?"

I give her a full rundown of what actions I would take, but nothing specific, such as wanting to throttle Kenyon or even mention of the recording device in my office. Her pen is going as I keep talking. Surprisingly, she's listening to every word I'm saying and I'm thinking more and more about how I almost wish I wasn't a Preventer. I'm a dog on a leash now, doing tricks at my master's command.

Maybe it really is time to move on, but after, and only after Heero returns. Maybe when things settle down and my partner is on his way back, I can talk to Wufei about it more. I'm sure he'd have some good advice seeing as he seems to know better than I do about what I need nowadays.

Putting her pen down momentarily, Reilly switches tracks, "So Duo…I think I asked this before, but I want to get your thoughts again: why do you spend so much time working with the Preventer Corp instead of pursuing hobbies like I've seen you doing these past several visits?"

Looking her straight in the face, I respond, "Because I honestly never had anything better to do with my life at that point and it was something that I was good at. I put aside hobbies so I could bring back smiles to people on a much larger scale, but…"

My eyes drift off to look through the doorway into the kitchen. "But…" Nora prods after a moment.

"But now I think I've learned that there needs to be a balance." Wow…epiphany anyone? Yeah, I've been a mess lately, but…I kind of did need a break. Once I began accepting the idea that I wasn't going to be back all that soon, it started making itself apparent. I just tried to deny it for far to long and fight it.

"That's good to hear. We don't want our best agents getting burnt out now." Leaning on her notebook with a mischievous look on her face she asks me one more question, "So when are those controllers going to be done? I'd like to see one in action."

Laughing hard, I rest fully against the back of the recliner, "Sorry, I wasn't expecting that. Um…" I mentally calculate how long it'll be before all of them are done depending on if I don't get sidetracked like I have been, "I figure Monday. I need to let each layer of paint dry, but with what I was doing this morning, it shouldn't take more than another day to finish that part up."

"Excellent. I hope to see more progress tomorrow and a working model on Monday then," she beams at me, though I can feel my face fall as I realize that we'll still be playing this charade on Monday, "I'm sorry, Duo. I'm hoping to be able to come here with good news on Monday. I'm sure you'd like to be rid of me."

Irk… "It's not that, Nora. Just getting a bit restless I suppose."

"That's understandable." Checking her watch, she stands up, "Again I need to go to yet another meeting. I'll see you again at the same time tomorrow."

Nodding, we go through our departing routine, and I head back to the garage to check on the paint. Not quite dry yet…another couple of hours should cut it. I noticed while I was speaking with Reilly that two cars left, which probably meant that all of the guys are gone. Well, there goes that idea of working on Chang's car. Guess I'll get started on my truck…after lunch.

---

Finding the parts that Wufei had so kindly purchased on his account, I put them on the bench against the wall before setting about moving everything so I can bring my Jeep into the garage. Normally I wouldn't have an issue doing the repairs outside, but it looks like it wants to rain and that just makes it not as much fun.

Hey, I've got the option right now to stay dry so I'm going to take it.

Turning my Jeep around to back it in, you'd think I'd want to have a gun handy if I'm going to be facing the street, but another thing I learned on the streets – anything can be a weapon in the right hands, and I'd like to think that in my hands, anything can potentially be deadly. A gun just happens to be much more effective.

That and I'd rather not put any holes in my truck is the thought that passes through my head as I grab the items I need and climb under the truck. It's much more satisfying to take them down in an unorthodox way.

Heero is a man of tradition, well, at least he certainly likes his guns, though he's quite capable in hand-to-hand combat. Even Wufei has a hell of a fight on his hands when he spars my partner…I just fight dirty.

I'm going to have a losing battle on my hands when he gets back, which technically should be six days from now, but who knows now that he's in trouble.

I wonder if I should have Wufei look over his car in the lot and see what might need to be done to it. Though it's kind of odd that he drove in and left it rather than just having one of us driving him in and then pick him up after his mission was over. So the guy liked to doze in my truck on the way back to the apartment. Didn't bother me any. It was nice that he trusted me that much.

Note: past tense. He's not going to trust me after he finds out about my major screw up.

I mean…I really want to believe Chang when he tells me that I'm worrying about this too much, but Yuy demands perfection without even acting like he cares. It's a lot for a guy to live up to, you know. I don't have my own standards so I use my roommate as a guide.

After spending a couple of quiet hours working on my Jeep, I glance at what is left on the table in the corner, having previously separated everything for each of the remaining vehicles. Well, I can't work on Chang's car since he took it…my gaze shifts over to the cases again and I decide that I can continue to paint the obscure design that I came up with on the one I started this morning.

I learned a lot from Hilde even though I acted like a hopeless cause. Maybe because I was afraid that I could actually be good at something other than being Death's avatar…maybe something else. Never really sat down and thought about it before now.

Never thought I'd actually live long enough to have time to reflect on my existence.

Life has a strange way of fucking you over, doesn't it? Putting the brush aside, I look over my work as I contemplate how morbid my train of thought just was. I'm going to have to top coat the hell out of this with the abuse the kids are sure to put it through.

Seeing as where I had started was dry, I go and rinse out my brush before finding the blue paint. I really hadn't planned on doing this, but for some reason, I bought the paint anyway. Guess it was already in my head to give it a shot.

The remainder of my afternoon is filled with silence as I finish putting what is in my head to the case. Though, by the end I find myself lacking in things to accomplish and check the board that needs a remaining coat and pull out the black paint again to finish that. Looks like they might be done earlier than expected if I can keep this pace up, though I'm sure that Hilde is wondering what is taking me so long.

She painted the last one I built for them. It was just a simple design, nothing fancy, but it beat the boring old wood that it was when she stole it from me. Well, steal is a bad word as much as threatened to feed me horrible food for a while unless I handed it over.

Cleaning the black paint out of the brush, two cars pull up that actually belong here. Quatre rushes out of the car, "Oooh…you finished it!" I watch the hyperactive blonde look over my work and then look for something in particular, "Nope, you didn't finish it."

Rolling my eyes, I dry my hands as I turn to face him, "I'll top coat it tomorrow, Q – it's still wet."

"That's not what I meant…you didn't sign it so it's not done." Light blue eyes bore into me as he points to what I had considered the finished work.

I suddenly feel like I'm dealing with a young child that has had way too much sugar in too short of a time period. "Come again?"

Sighing, Winner shakes his head as if I'm hopeless. "You need to sign your name on it before you put the top coat on. It's your creation, you deserve to put your name on it."

Picking up the paints, I respond as I put them back where they belong, "I don't think it's really necessary…"

"Just do it, Maxwell. Winner won't leave you alone otherwise," Chang stated as he inspected the work.

Pausing in putting the last can back up on the shelf, I agree, "You've got a point…"

"Hey!"

Trowa closes the garage door behind him, though his behavior doesn't suggest any urgency. I really wish I knew if it was an act or if they really didn't get anywhere today.

The smell of fresh pizza finally breaks through the dissipating paint fumes and I find myself following Wufei as he leaves the garage with supper. I guess having the door open really didn't help much with ventilation today. Maybe the rain pushed it back in.

Yeah, I know, I'm being stupid.

Helping Chang set the table, I jump on them verbally, "So, did you guys get anywhere today?"

Winner sighs, "No, it was pretty much pointless meetings where we went over the same information again and again." It's sort of amusing to see the blonde frustrated like this in a weird twisted way.

Having served myself I take a bite as the Chinese man to my right speaks, "I spoke with Une. That woman is probably going to want to speak with you as soon as she can get you cleared."

"The hot rumor here is Monday the earliest," I add.

"That's not good…" All of us turn to look at the soft-spoken man. "Heero will have been out of official contact for almost five days by that point," Barton elaborates.

I forgot about that. I'll have lost nearly a week in finding the bastard, and that's one week less that I'll have before they close the investigation. A month isn't nearly long enough to find someone who can hide themselves like the five of us can. That's also if I can get cleared.

"Does the fact that he's made unofficial contact count?" Damn, that sounded stupid.

"At this point, no," Quatre takes over for his companion, "Since we're unable to verify that it is indeed Heero, but it does afford you the opportunity to look into the matter of who hacked your computer."

I grin broadly…Winner is so good with these word games and loopholes. Though I'm somewhat offended that he thinks that just anyone can hack my system. Er…okay, so I was technically up against what was a watered down version of the Zero system, or at least that's what it seemed like. Zero and I just don't get along…that and I wasn't expecting a data dump. A hack I could've fought back against. "I think I'll start looking into it tonight."

"After you sign that board," the blonde reminds me.

Rolling my eyes I accept my fate. The rest of dinner continues with them filling me in on the day's occurrences, which as they said, was nothing new. At least nothing I could pick up on and try to see if I could broaden.

Kenyon was still being a quivering mass of whatever he is, who is more worried about the black mark on his record than Heero's life. That boy has his priorities screwed up royally. It's hard to tell…he might just be hiding something.

"Hey, whatever happened to the record analysis?" I question, somewhat at random.

Quatre and Trowa look at each other before Wufei gives in and speaks for them, "It was tampered with. That's why there's such a push to get you clearance."

"A kid like him doesn't have the skills to tamper with it." I know the super rookie doesn't. He may be good, but he doesn't have access never mind the fact that he's never handled the system.

"Then either he has an accomplice…" Winner starts.

"…or someone is setting him up as well," Barton concludes.

"Both are viable possibilities, but I think we need to keep following Kenyon until he shows us who else is involved," Chang intones.

"Have you tried to chase the hack?"

The blonde shakes his head, "The trail was cold by the time we thought to look there. Whoever did it was very professional and clean about it."

"We would have needed someone with your or Yuy's skills to find anything," Wufei notes.

I nibble on a piece of pepperoni that was in the otherwise empty pizza box in front of me. This sucks…this sucks big time. I can't believe my extremely horrible timing for fucking everything up.

"Maxwell, go paint your box."

Huh? I look over and black eyes are analyzing me, which is rather uncomfortable for some reason. Glancing at the clock, I comment, "It's a little late for me to be starting on the next one."

"I think he meant for you to go sign the one you just finished before you forget," Trowa corrects.

Sighing, I hang my head, "Fine, I see how it is," and just get up and leave. Though Quatre follows me back to the garage.

"So, what are you going to do on the next one?" Nosy bastard.

Sifting through my color options in paint, I grab the yellow, "I'm not sure yet. My color choices left are red or green, well, the LED sets I got anyway."

Taking care of what the blonde is surely here to make sure gets done, I quickly clean up and put everything away. Though I know it won't take it long to dry, so I break out the clear topcoat and put a thick layer over it. I'll put another layer on in the morning. Not sure if I should leave it at that or put about five coats on knowing how they'll beat on the boards.

I'm kind of running out of time, so I'll leave it with just another thick coat in the morning and hope for the best. At least I'll be able to start on the other two tomorrow.

I won't be able to go looking for my partner tomorrow though, which makes me feel guilty for doing this rather than ripping someone a new asshole. I don't like having my hands tied like this, and making these controllers for the kids is the only thing really that's keeping me occupied so I don't go and do something stupid to fuck things up even more.

Or take Chang's car apart to see why he likes that piece of junk so much.

I did that to his bike once, but that was more because it wasn't running the way I thought it should be. He nearly killed me when he saw it in pieces, but thanked me after I rebuilt it.

With a few more comments, we parted ways for the night and I jumped onto my computer once I got back to my little sanctuary. I'll parse the data that was dumped when I need to – right now, I'm going to try to track the bastard down and virtually beat him for giving me a splitting headache this morning.  
----------  
Fin  
by JeiC  
October 2006  
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Author's Notes: I cross-post this on deviantart, and Eikou Studios…yeah, I know, Eikou Studios is under construction, but it's always under construction – at least my fics and vids are up and viewable. Everything else…well, it'll get there eventually.  
I am so, so very sorry for the delay with this chapter. Again, I babbled in my DA journal as to my fun filled vacations as well as having posted some pictures. I keep putting off posting the rest and others keep forgetting to post their pics for me.  
I'll probably be late again with the next chapter, but that's 'cause I'm working on a few other projects and there's one set of fics that I want to have done for everyone in December…and they aren't turning out to be small chapters. Yes, that one is Gundam Wing…my other projects, if they are even fanfiction, aren't GW based, but I'm a silly little writer who decided to enter a contest and again go into another fandom that I haven't written for before.

On a side note:  
Getting glomped leaves me feeling so violated…

Special thanks to:  
**Everyone** (sorry to make this so general this time): To both those of you that have reviewed my work and for everyone else who, when I just checked it again, pushed the hit count on this to well over 1K. I've never before had anywhere near this much attention for one of my pieces and I am very honored by the fact that not only have so many people read it, but so many come back time and time again to read each chapter that I post. It makes banging my head on the desk worth it.  
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	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I really should just make one catch-all disclaimer and use it all the time, but alas, I write a new one every time. So it's gonna be the same old I don't own Gundam Wing or Evanescence, but I did write this story so please keep my name on it if you're gonna pass it along.  
Author's Notes: Notes at the end.  
Warnings: angst, language, yaoi implications

**Away From Me  
****Chapter 9**

by JeiC  
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_I can't go on like this  
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_I'm up and running earlier than normal, which most people would consider odd since I got very little sleep last night, but with the three of them now going back to the office, I can catch up on my sleep after the shrink leaves. Seeing that it's an even more ungodly hour than normal, I quietly make my way to the garage after making sure that I looked halfway decent in my sleep attire before I step out of the apartment. I'll just throw that next topcoat on and then go take a shower and get ready for the day.

Not bothering with the garage door, I get to work. It doesn't take me long to finish and I debate just starting the design on the other case. It's still too early for me to normally be up so I shrug and set about getting the next one started.

I'm not really into the whole tribal thing, but I think it'd suit my idea far better than anything else. Starting with the red this time, I set about starting the major part of the design, saving the gray and white for accents later.

Since it isn't anything overly fancy, I'm done with just enough time to run back upstairs and jump in the shower before the guys come looking for me. I decided earlier against getting ready for the day on the simple fact that I might wake someone up inadvertently. Speaking of, they should hear it on now and know better than to try knocking on the apartment door.

Rinsing my hair for the final time, the thought crosses my mind that Heero should technically be back in five days, but I wasn't able to get anything last night. I even plopped myself in the same spot that he found me the last time. I guess last night wasn't good for him. I left him a little toy to play with in my absence provided he finds it.

Finishing my routine, I no sooner finish tying off the end of my braid, but there's a knock at the door. "It's about damn time you got your ass in gear."

"Good morning, Wufei. Did you sleep well last night?"

Chang just grimaces and signals for me to follow. Once I get down into his apartment, Quatre bombards me, "Did you see him last night? How come you overslept? Do you have a headache?"

"Um, for the record, I didn't oversleep and if you don't stop pouncing on me with questions, I'm going to have a headache." What is with them? They upset that I took a shower later than usual? Geez…can't a guy switch his routine up a little? "If you really want to know, I was in the garage. I took a shower afterwards so I wouldn't wake anyone up."

An aura of understanding could be felt from each of them. "Oooh, does that mean…?" the blonde started heading for the door, but stopped when his partner stepped in his path, giving him a look to send him back towards Chang and I.

All of us sat down silently after that to breakfast until the quietest one among us spoke, "Did you find Heero last night?"

"No…" I can feel the defeat in my voice, "I stayed in the same area, drifting for awhile, but not even a shred of information came my way."

"He may not have been able to come out of hiding to make contact again," Trowa offered as an alternative to the thought that he might be in a teensy bit more trouble than he was the night before.

"It's possible and it isn't like he set up another meet up time and place as far as I can tell from what he dumped," I shrug and munch on a piece of toast. Hey, I had nothing better to do while I drifted.

"Well then," Quatre interjected, "I guess we have to wait for anything possibly new until we get to the office."

"We'd figure this out faster if they'd just let Maxwell access the recorder in his office," Wufei retorted.

I try my best to ignore the beginning of what sounds like bickering and quietly eat my breakfast. My theory holds true and soon those two are going at it with words while Barton and I finish our breakfast in silence.

Getting up at the same time, we go over to the sink, wash our dishes, leave them to dry in the drain and then head out, all the while ignoring the pointless argument going on between Winner and Chang.

I head for the garage with the intent to check on my work. The one with the design I started earlier might be dry by now. The tall man follows me without a word.

Opening the garage door this time as I normally do, I silently set about my next self-appointed task. While checking the topcoat that I put on earlier, Trowa speaks, "Do you think Heero will attempt to contact you again?"

It's drying faster than I had expected. "Honestly, I don't know. He might feel this is enough and just sit tight. He might try again if he has more information to dump. For now I set up a bot that he can play with if he finds it."

"What if someone else finds it?"

Shaking my head as I reach for the can of white paint and a brush, "They'd think it was nothing." This is one of those help bots that Heero and I had been developing on the side so that if an agent ran into trouble, instead of having to set of a meeting time and place for someone, an innocent looking file could be placed in a specified location and accessed at anytime. The bot was linked to alert my mobile phone if activated while he's playing with it. Right now, Yuy would be the only one that would know how to activate it.

In the Preventer's eyes, it isn't a legal option, but I'm not on active duty, now am I? In a twisted way, I'm almost grateful to Une for this chance to test out this little toy. We had finished it about four months ago and done some preliminary testing with it, but nothing even remotely in a live situation. I can only hope that it works like it's supposed to.

You know…I really should have thought to deploy it sooner, but hindsight is 20/20 I suppose.

The silence stretches out for a few minutes until Quatre bursts in, apparently rather agitated from his fight with Wufei, "Sorry. I think with us not being allowed to get anywhere fast has me a bit edgy."

"You think?" I reply sarcastically.

Without turning around, I can sense an immature response of him sticking his tongue out at me. Don't ask me how, I just have a feeling that's what he did.

"Oooh, I like!" the blonde bounced behind me, looking over my shoulder. To get him to stop before he made me mess up, I turned and dotted his forehead with the brush. He went dead still in shock before yelling, "Hey! That was mean!" and ran out of the garage to go wash it off.

Wufei walked in just as Quatre ran out and raised an eyebrow at me. Shrugging my only comment was, "He should have known better."

Chang leaned again one of the counters, "You're right, he should have, but you know how excited he seems to get lately."

"It's because of Strata." Both of us turned to look at the tall, quiet man. "He's been feeling guilty since making the ultimatum to either take a break from the industry or to lose her contract with the Winner Corporation."

"That doesn't sound like Quatre at all…" I mentally note aloud. Sure the guy was a sharp businessman, but he was always kind in his dealings.

Black eyes slide over to glance at me quickly before returning to the one with the answers, "I have to concur with Maxwell's assessment."

"Strata was working herself into the ground. She had collapsed after her last concert, putting her in the hospital. Quatre had tried to reason with her, but she's stubborn. For now, he's allowing her to do some minor work to tie up her latest album, but I don't think she'll be in the studio, let alone touring anytime soon," his visible green eye locked onto be as he spoke, and I got the feeling that I was in the same boat as the girl I met on the basketball court that rainy afternoon, or at least I was in the eyes of the head of the Winner Corporation. Makes sense now I guess.

"You better keep an eye on the little guy and make sure he doesn't burn himself out in the process of making sure that everyone else isn't," I threw at Trowa as food for thought.

"Trust me, I'm trying."

Shortly, the blonde reappeared in the doorway and threw the towel at me, which I caught to his dismay. "Hey, you were bouncing and it was making it hard to work," I defended.

Light blue eyes glare at me, "But did you really have to put paint on my forehead?"

Thinking about it for a moment, I reply, "Well, it was more entertaining than just telling you to stop."

Before the blonde could argue against what was my better judgment, Chang spoke up, "We need to get going."

They filed out quietly, with a few comments that they'll see me later and to stay out of trouble. I simply went back to my work when they were gone. No point in getting emotional over the fact that I'm still not allowed back. I need to take back control somehow and I've nearly done it.

Then again, I think I work better as a "fly by the seat of my pants" type of guy. I come up with my most creative solutions when I don't have time to prepare. Soon the white paint is away and I'm checking on the topcoat of the other one as to let what I was working on dry. I'm half surprised that it's completely dry already, but the humidity is really low today. Shrugging to no one but myself, I get into the part that I really want – the guts of these beasts.

It has been awhile since I built one so I reference my notes quickly before altering it in my head to optimize the performance and to allow for the LEDs to light up when pushed.

Putting the bottom on the board, I hear a car pull up into the driveway. Looking up, I wave at Nora before going back to screwing the bottom on the board. I'm kind of sad that it didn't take quite as long as I thought it would to put it together. I guess it doesn't help that I was referencing the time putting the shell together versus the time putting the stuff that matters most into it, which probably isn't fair since I spent a lot of time making the case something other than boring old wood.

"Please tell me that's a finished one," the shrink beams at me.

I laugh, somewhat annoyed, but I'm not about to let her know that. "We'll see if it's done when I test it out."

"If you want to do that before we get started, that's fine with me."

Raising an eyebrow at her as I test the strength of the bottom cover, I pick it up to take with me, "I don't want to take up your time with my silly hobbies."

There's a sparkle in her eyes that doesn't bode well for me, or at least I think it doesn't. "Oh no. I've been watching you build these from day one – I want to see one of these in action. That and what I have today isn't going to take long at all."

Closing the garage door, I reply, "If you insist."

Upstairs I set it up and answer whatever questions she has in regards to it, mostly she questions me about the artwork and I have a feeling that my choice of pieces is part of my evaluation, "Well, really, this one and the one in progress downstairs I had more of the kids in mind when coming up with something."

"What about the third one?"

I look up at her as I place it on the coffee table before I start up the console and go get each of us a glass of water, "I haven't decided yet."

Handing her one of the glasses of water, I kneel down and turn the board to the side so I don't have my back to her. I just generally don't like having my back to people, and it would probably be considered rude for me to do that to the nice lady.

"I can honestly do this later so I don't waste your time," I offer one more time.

Settling her notebook on her lap, I get this mischievous smirk, "Nope, you're not taking up my time. Consider this part of your evaluation."

You know, I had a feeling that this little project of mine was part of that even as she attempts to make it a joke. "I better not lose too badly then."

Setting about playing two songs so I can test out each side, I nod and turn the game off. "One down, two to go now."

"You know, the fact that it lights up got you a lot of extra brownie points. That is amazing work, Duo. Makes me wonder why you work as a Preventer." The compliment was genuine, but that last part got to me a bit.

"So, you think that I'm displaced in the Preventer Corp?" The tone was just that of idle chatter, but my wording could have been better.

Raising an eyebrow, Nora responds, "No, you are very talented there as well, but you have so many options opened to you that I'm surprised that you took the path you did."

Scratching the back of my head I laugh slightly, "Heh…once a grease monkey, always a grease monkey I guess."

The previously bubbly woman's face grew serious, "Actually, Duo, the reason I had you do that first was so that what I'm about to go over with you doesn't interfere. You've been working so hard and long on that project that even though this has greater priority, I felt that it would be in the best interest of everyone if I let you finish the controller first. Especially since you were in the process of finishing that one up."

Signaling for one moment, I move the controller off the coffee table and off to the side so I can put my glass of water down. "Go ahead."

"This is about Agent Yuy. There have been pressures from many people, including myself, to get you back and into the investigation since you would know your partner the best and have a far greater chance of finding him. Since he also contacted you of his own free will, it gave us the edge we had been looking for, unfortunately, you still have to wait until Monday, but General Une sent me with a care package to get you started. Now I don't know anything about Special Ops work, but I do have to go over a few things with you as your advocate and your evaluator." A packet appeared from her bag and she handed it over to me, "That's the paperwork regarding your case. They will only allow you to assist in the investigation with me shadowing you every step of the way – basically evaluating you on the job." Her pen is going a mile a minute as she talks and damn would I love to know what she is writing.

Feeling the need to bluntly summarize her elaborate explanation, I state flatly, "Another words, I'm on probation."

The pen paused and she tapped the backend of it on her chin for a moment before continuing, "Yes and no. There are other reasons that General Une has asked me to work undercover with you which I'm afraid I cannot discuss. I won't be with you the entire time since you're quite capable of doing your job on your own, but I do have to take daily observations and have discussions, though I think I'll leave the discussions to whenever there is a need to have one."

Putting the paperwork down on my lap, I question, "What do you mean by undercover?"

Reilly's smile makes me more uneasy than I already am, "Just think of me as your personal secretary."

"Um, won't it be just a bit suspicious that suddenly I have a secretary?" I voice my concern. More for her sake than mine really since the others know better than to mess with me.

"Most of the explanation of my assumed role is in that packet. I'm more going to be the general's eyes and ears in the investigation, but working with you specifically since you're coming in during the middle of it. I know this is a lot to ask, but please trust me in this – it is the best that both the general and I could do with the powers that be watching. I'll stay out of your hair as much as I can." Damn, something is keeping her from actually giving any information, but it sounds as if she likes this just about as much as I do.

Running a hand through my bangs, I resist the urge to sigh in exasperation. "Guess I have no real choice in the matter if I want to get back in there."

"Not really, no, but this gives you options and opportunities."

It didn't take anywhere near as long as one of our usual "sessions," but we did go over the information thoroughly that the head of the Preventer Corp provided for us.

Sitting back after our however long briefing, brainstorming, and planning session, I take a silent, deep breath, "Okay, I think this can work and cover everything that we need to."

"I'm pretty sure that this isn't what the others had in mind when they drafted this," the nervousness in her voice is apparent.

"Well then, next time tell them not to write so many loopholes for me to use."

Her bubbly smile appeared back on her face, "I think I'll not tell them that because it's far more interesting to watch their hard work be worked around so easily. Is this what it's like to be in Special Ops 'cause I might just transfer."

Scratching the back of my head, I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit, "No, this is just how I am. I like to find every alternative I can to a solution to a problem. It really depends on who you work with on how they'll work. That's why Heero and I are really good together since he'll start coming up with the straightforward solutions and I'll come up with some more backdoor or roundabout ideas. Sometimes we go with his approach, sometimes we'll go with mine – whichever we both agree would be better."

Raising an eyebrow at me, Reilly questioned, "Doesn't that sometimes create a bit of a conflict if both of you think a different solution is better? I've read Agent Yuy's profile and to be honest, the two of you are like night and day it seems. It's rather impressive that you two can work together, let alone live together, which believe it or not, helped greatly in getting us this far."

I laugh, what little she knew. "Oh, we fight, no doubt about that, but we also respect each other's opinions so our 'fighting' per say isn't really what it sounds like. We'll debate it out until either we get our point across or concede. More often than not, we end up merging our ideas together if we can't agree."

"That's interesting. Some of the others I have had the pleasure of having to deal with seemed to be far to stubborn to bend to the will of others. Needless to say, given the track record of the people I usually get, you're the first one that I haven't had to remove from duty." The pen is back to going a mile a minute. Well, hopefully I just made a good impression there.

"Guess I should be honored then that I'm not one of the masses." And feel damn lucky to boot.

"I'm certainly glad for the change of pace." Putting her notebook and pen away she stands as if to leave, "Well, I think that's all we can do for now. If you have any other ideas or thoughts, you know I'm just a phone call away. Also, if you don't mind, could you come with me to my car? I have a present for you from General Une."

Nodding, I get up and follow her. Once we reach her vehicle, which I mentally approve of over Chang's choice since this one is far more reliable and less temperamental than his, she hands me a small, gift-wrapped package and her behavior changes slightly, which only adds to the feeling that we are being watched, "General Une apologizes that she wasn't able to give you this before you went on vacation. She hopes that you don't mind getting a belated birthday present."

But, I don't have a birthday…accepting the package, I play along, "It's no problem at all – I'm afraid my plans were last minute. Please thank her for me…I'm sure I'll like whatever it is she got me. Well, as long as it isn't another hint to go cut my hair again." Actually, that was Sally that did that, but I'll pretend it was Une for now.

"Will do. I'll see you at the office, sir. Anyway, it's a pleasure to be working with you," she winked at me, having her back to the suspicious and bloody obvious van across the street. What, do they have new recruits trying to watch me? If so, they fail.

Finishing off her routine, I quickly pop the gift inside the front door and then walk over to the van and knock on the back doors. I hear a couple of guys jump and then curse vividly before someone opens the door just enough to poke their head out. "Can…can I help you, sir?"

"Rookies, huh? You guys have got some nerve trying to spy on me." And here is where I'm glad that when we moved in, we made sure that we would have our privacy – even from professionals who wouldn't be anywhere as stupid as these guys.

The expression on his face tells what he trying to cover up. "I don't know what you're talking about, sir. We aren't spying on anyone."

Feeling the good old God of Death smirk reach my face, I counter, "Look, quit with the bullshit before I kick the door and turn your head into a squished pumpkin. I know the license belongs to the Preventers, I know what these vans are for, and I know you're doing a shit job of covering up the fact that you got caught. Hell, even my assistant knew that you guys were here and she's administrative, not a field agent. They must be lowering their standards for the graduation of new recruits because you guys, in all essence of the word, suck."

Seeing the rookie swallow in fear, he steps out of the van and lightly closes the door behind him. "Look, Agent Maxwell, this isn't what you think…"

Cutting his probably lame excuse off, I bite back, "Yeah, sure. Get out of here. I don't want to see you guys again and you better believe that someone at headquarters is going to hear about this."

Seeing him go for his gun to try to intimidate me into not making that phone call, I'm behind him in a second, slamming him face first into the seam between the doors after quickly wrapping my braid around his neck and tightening it's strangle hold on him with my free hand so that if he moved, I wouldn't feel the pull on my hair. Thankfully, his gun dropped to the ground at my feet – it would have sucked if he had been going for something else.

A moment later, Chang comes flying down the street and screeched to a halt behind me. With his gun drawn, he moves to take over for me. Barton and Winner move to take care of the guy still inside the van.

Somehow all of this seems rather surreal, but at the moment, my mind is on work mode.

I barely acknowledge that Wufei has started the arrest procedures as the other two pull the other guy out of the van and get him on the ground with his buddy. Other vehicles start to show up and I wonder what I might have just gotten myself into.

"Maxwell!" Oh. Shit. Turning, I see Une approach me, "Good job keeping these two occupied."

Huh? "What's going on, ma'am?"

It seemed like in moments the two that attempted to spy on me were handcuffed and packed in cars, being hauled away and others were taking the van back. Now these folks knew how to clean up.

"We're sorry to bother you on your vacation. May I speak with you privately?" I signal towards the house upon her request.

Scooping up the "present" that Nora left me with as I enter the front door behind the Preventer head, I head up the stairs before her so I can open the door. "Please forgive the state of the apartment – I haven't had a chance to clean up from Agent Reilly's visit."

"It's quite alright. I take it she went over everything with you in detail?" Securing the door, I shift the package in my hands – it's a little heavy for its size.

"Yes, ma'am, but I haven't had a chance to look at the other item she left with me," I state, holding up the package before I put it down on the coffee table and clean up the glasses, "Can I get you anything, Lady Une?"

"I'm fine and drop the formalities, Duo. You're not on duty."

I just simply nod taking note that she once again used my first name, going about my domestic duties to clean up the little bit that needed to be. When I turn around, I notice the normally very self-restrained woman taking interest in the controller that I had up here, and I dared not say anything to startle her.

"Reilly was correct when she said that this was incredible craftsmanship." Turning on her heel, her demeanor went from that of the gentle Lady Une that we saw during the middle of the war when her personality was split, to the top Preventer in the organization. Taking a seat in the recliner, she explained, "What you got caught in the middle of was people who are accomplices of the whoever it was that sabotaged the recorder files and framed Kenyon. We still don't understand their motives yet."

Signaling me to take a seat, my ass found the couch quickly before I pissed her off. "I'm going to be frank here, but they were horrible at attempting to spy on me."

"Actually, they were hired to keep you out of the picture." Nice – they were trying to kill me instead of spy on me. For some reason I'm not overly concerned with that fact. "Fortunately, they are rather inexperienced and we found out their plot in time."

Smirking to cover up the sense of dread, I remark, "I was starting to wonder if the requirements for graduation had been lowered."

"We're in the process of raising them." The pause has me wondering what she's going to come out with next. "After this incident, I would like to post someone nearby to help cover you incase this happens again, but I have a feeling that you won't accept that."

"You're right," I reply bluntly.

Sighing in somewhat of a defeat, Une continues, "You're not making this easy for me, Duo…"

Again with the first name. This isn't fair – I don't know her first name, or at least I never cared enough to go look it up. "How about this…you've got three other agents living in this house, my next-door neighbor is going to be teaching a self-defense seminar at HQ, and her sister is probably just as capable as she is. I think we've got it covered pretty well."

"Point taken." The Preventer head pauses again, "Is Archer the neighbor that you're speaking of?"

"Which one? There's Sierra and Sienna." I figure whoever named them must've gotten a kick out of giving them since they're so close to each other.

"Sierra. I went to speak with her a few days ago regarding her applications at her current place of employment. I was highly impressed with her knowledge and skills." And the General to be saying that, Sierra must be damn good since she didn't even add in the comment "for a civilian." After giving it some thought, she continued, "I know Archer has also applied to enter into the Special Ops program on reserve. If she has time, I would like her to come in with you on Monday – there are a few things that we need to discuss and I have a feeling that she'll be an asset to our investigation."

Looking out the window, I comment, "Why don't you ask her yourself?"

Une turned to see that both Sierra and Sienna had come out of their house to see what the commotion was about. Shortly, I was making an effort to keep up with the taller woman as she strode quickly out of the apartment. By the time we made it outside, Sienna had gone back in, but Sierra still stood in front of the house, leaning against the bushes.

As we approached, there was rustling behind the bushes before the shorter woman spun into action, dragging the one hiding out and throwing him away from her. He hit the ground face first, but was up and charging back at his former hostage – his knife poised to do as much damage as he could.

There wasn't a shred of tension coming off of her as she stepped in, open hand into his face, knocking him on his back. Grabbing his wrist and hand with the weapon, she flipped him back onto his stomach, twisting his arm up to lock his shoulder, and completely pin him to the ground, pushing enough so that he would release his grip on the knife to allow her to take it. With the knife in her free hand, as she leaned her hip to make sure that he was locked down, she waved us over and also called for her sister to come back.

Leaning on the railing, Sienna laughed, "Now we know why you're a shodan."

"_I shouldn't have given him a chance the first time_," Sierra tossed back in her native language.

Sienna winked at her, keeping her half of the conversation in a language that all present should be able to understand. "It's just because you're such a nice person."

The elder sister glared at her younger counterpart, "_Just because I came home for lunch…_"

"Ladies…" Une interjected, "I want to thank you for your help."

Chang was there a moment later to take over and arrest the remaining one, "I hope there aren't anymore hiding somewhere."

"Nope, that's the last one," the girl on the porch confirmed, "I saw the van arrive and he was the only one that got out. Went down the street to the corner store I suppose and ran into our bushes to hide when he came back and saw the lady that was visiting Duo leaving his house. Sierra had come home before he could move and well, the rest is history."

"Do you always spy on your neighbors?" the General asked.

Sienna stood up straight at having been caught doing something she shouldn't have. "No…I was sitting by the front window working on the book I'm writing and waiting for Sierra. It's a nice day, but I didn't want to sit out on the porch."

Une held up her hand to quiet the girl, "My apologies, it's just rare to be in the right place at the right time. However, I also have business with your sister," she turned to look at the older sister, "Would it be possible for you to come with Agent Maxwell to Preventer headquarters. There is something that I need to discuss with you and I believe that you may be able to help us out with an ongoing investigation."

"Off Monday…can go," the martial artist stated as she put the knife into an evidence bag.

At Une's confused look, Sienna threw the small pillow she had been holding at Sierra's head, "I know you can speak English perfectly, you lazy girl."

The other girl caught it without turning to look. "Sorry. I'm off on Monday so I can go."

"Thank you," her sister mumbled.

Behind me, Quatre started giggling. "Sorry, it's just good to see that it's not just my sisters that do things like that," he quietly clarified.

The rest of it was a blur. While Sienna gave her statement and helped file the needed paperwork, we set it up so that Sierra would travel with me on Monday since my vehicle is registered with HQ and she would receive a visitor pass when we arrived at the gate. From there, I had a briefing with Une and Reilly, and Archer would meet up with Chang to go through the rest of the screening process as well as give an official statement on today's events. Finally, there was a plan that actually involved me.

"Oh, and one other thing, Maxwell." I turned to look at her as the others had moved out of earshot. "Bring Yuy's recon information with you. It might help us find him faster, or at least narrow down our playing field."

"Yes, ma'am." Though playing by the rules like this was starting to kill me. I don't know if I'll be able to sit on my hands for two more days after this.

Soon, all of them were gone, leaving me and my next-door neighbors behind, though Chang did promise that as soon as he had finished booking these guys, he'd be back. I think he forgot that it's an hour ride each way.

Turning to the two women, I smile nervously, "Look, I'm really sorry to have dragged you into this."

"Not your fault. Though interesting use of hair," Sierra quipped.

Sienna laughed, "Yeah, maybe you should teach a class at the dojo on techniques using long hair as a weapon."

"Hey!" I defend, "In the right hands, almost anything can be a weapon."

While the younger sister continued to laugh, her older sibling noted soberly, "_He's right, you know._"

"_I like to think that way since it gives me more options. Though I wonder how they'll write up the report for the one I grabbed._" My mind doesn't even catch up with the fact that I slipped into their native language until after I spoke and both sisters gawked at me. Scratching the back of my head nervously, I commented, "Well, this is awkward. So, uh, Sienna, you said you were writing a book…"

I got a few details on that, but mostly they were interested where I had learned the language since it was so rare. We stayed outside for a while talking until Sierra had to leave to go back to work, saying that she was going to grab something to eat on the way.

After waving goodbye, I headed back in the house and straight to the garage – I wasn't hungry and I figured I might as well keep going on the one I had started so early this morning. It has definitely been an eventful day and it's only really half over. It doesn't seem to take me long to finish, including signing it before Quatre can have another fit, and I stare at the other one, contemplating. The one I just finished needs some time to dry before I can put the topcoat on and…before I really think about it, my brushes are clean and I'm cracking open the green paint – starting the pentagonal outline of Deathscythe's eyes. I just go with it, needing to break from what I had been doing for others and being selfish with this one. It isn't long before I start painting the eerie wisps of green that would occasionally trail off from them. When I finally saw some video of it, I thought it was the most awesome thing since a lot of time, it would happen either right after or shortly after we came out of stealth-mode. I found it amusing that it was just heated plasma that sometimes needed to be vented and for some reason, it just glowed the same as my buddy's eyes. Overall, I thought the effect was awesome…now if only I can recreate that…

Time again passes quietly and I amuse myself with wondering if the others would think that I was sick or something. Rarely does anyone outside of Heero, and occasionally Wufei, catch me in moments of silence and solitude like this. Though I suppose recently I've been quieter than normal.

Finishing with the green, I debate what else I can do to make it better, but then I wonder if maybe I should just leave it as is. I'll leave it aside for now and think about it later. Cleaning my brushes, I go ahead and put the first topcoat on the other case before heading back upstairs.

I suppose I really should have come back up here earlier and checked out what it was that Une had left for me, but…I guess I just needed the distraction.

Staring at the package, it stares back at me and neither of us moves for about five minutes. Finally I give in and pick it up, figuring that it wasn't just going to unwrap and open itself.

I get so far as to taking the wrapping off before the phone rings. Shrugging, I put it back down to answer, "Hey, Hilde, how's it goin?"

"Duo, don't tell me you forgot about making the controllers. I want to have time to paint them before the next Games Day," she scolds me right off the bat.

"Whoa! Geez, you asked me less than a week ago, Hil," I defend.

Blinking, she looked to the side, over at a calendar probably. "Oh, sorry about that. Guess I'm just a bit nervous to get them done in time since they've scheduled one in another couple of weeks."

Laughing, I try to put her at ease, "Hey, look, don't worry about painting them. One is already done and I should have the other one finished this weekend."

Rolling her eyes, she throws back, "Duo…you know I don't want to give them a plain old box with buttons on it."

Signaling for her to give me a minute, I grab the one that I have upstairs and bring it over to the phone, keeping it out of sight of the camera. "I just tested it out this morning." I hold it up on my lap so that the bottom is to the camera.

Squinting, she moves her head as if to try to see more and then yells at me, "Dammit, Duo, turn the case around so I can see – it looks like you painted it."

Fighting down a blush, as much as I enjoyed teasing her, I put forth the disclaimer, "It isn't very good…"

Turning it around, I cringe upon her squeal. "Oh my…they're going to love it! I didn't know you were such an artist!"

"Hilde! Geez…can you turn it down a bit? I just thought I'd try doing something with it since you yelled at me the last time I made one." Making sure I could still hear, I continue, "I just want to forewarn you that there's a battery pack inside these things just to test them. The console should provide enough power otherwise."

"Test?" the question was asked with an innocent tilt of the head.

Flipping it over since the side with the switch ended up on the bottom, I turn the power on, and immediately the lights hidden around and slightly under the edge of the turntable light up – I pressed a few of the keys to make them light up as well. "The LEDs should last a good long while, but incase you need to test them…"

The joy on her face makes me smile, and prepare for yet another squeal, but instead her face softens. "Duo, I can't believe you did all this for them. You're such a sweet guy and don't even try to deny it because the facts are sitting right on your lap. When did you have time to do all of this? Honestly, I was expecting just to get your voicemail when I called."

Turning the battery pack off, I lay the board across my lap and try to force some cheer into my voice, "You just happened to catch me on my week off."

"Duo…" she chides, "You never take time off. What happened?"

Hanging my head, I busy myself with putting the dual controller off to the side, "If it's okay, I'd rather not talk about it right now."

The seriousness on her face is tough to ignore as she tries to analyze me through the video being fed to her, "Well, if you ever want to, you know you can talk to me."

Smiling gently, I give her my gratitude for the offer, "Thanks, Hil…I mean it."

"No problem. So did you do the same thing on the other case or were you more adventurous?"

Laughing, I shake my head in disbelief, "I did something different since I have a set of red LEDs for that one."

"Go get it – I want to see!"

"Hil, the topcoat is probably still drying. The only reason this one came up today was so I could test it." Seeing those pleading eyes, I sigh, "Okay, give me a minute to patch you downstairs. Yeesh."

"Thank you, Duo!" my former enemy chimed at me in a singsong voice.

"Yeah, yeah…you just like harassing me," with that, I shifted the call down to the garage and made a run for it, locking the door behind me after making sure that I still had my keys. We hardly ever use the phone down here so it took me a minute to clean off the screen and camera lens from what seemed like mostly sawdust. "You there, Hil?" I inquire after switching on the speakerphone.

Her face appeared on the screen a moment later, "Sure am. Now show me."

Laughing, I wander over to the red one and carefully lift it from the inside though I might've lied about the topcoat not being dry, but I'd rather not take my chances. "It still needs another topcoat before I assemble the guts."

I hear a low whistle from the other end. "You know, I really should make you deliver these in person."

"You wouldn't be so cruel…"

Her reply to that is merely a smirk. "Anyway, did I see a third one being built? I thought you were only going to make two."

Putting the one in my hands back where it was drying previously, I check to make sure that the paint is dry before I pick up the other one. "I think it was Wufei that talked me into making a third one. I was debating if I wanted to send it with the other two or just hold onto it until one broke."

"Is that your Gundam?"

I can feel the heat rising to my cheeks and I laugh nervously, "It's that obvious, huh?" I look down at the eyes staring off the board and the wisps of green trailing down and over the sides. Maybe I went a little overboard.

"Only because I know you. Otherwise I think I'd be freaked out that something evil was staring at me. What color lights do you have for that?" the raven-haired girl's curiosity getting the better of her.

"Green. I haven't decided if I want to do anything else with it yet – I just finished this part not long before you called." Shrugging, I really didn't know what else to say.

Tilting her head as if to study it, Hilde finally came to a conclusion, "Leave it – I like the effect, though I think you should write 'Deathscythe' on the front-side panel in the same color."

"Hil…that'll make it blatantly obvious."

I receive a big grin before she explains, "Sure will…it's your controller after all."

"Huh?" Yeah, I built it, but…

My former co-worker at the scrap yard clarifies, "Duo, keep that one for yourself. I can tell it means a lot to you. You can make a third one for the kids later. I think they'll already not know what to do with themselves with the two you have. I'm sending you when the next Games Day is. Please make it and bring all of them with you – it'll be like Santa Claus bringing gifts except instead of a fat guy in a red suit, it'll be their hero, DJ Duo."

I can never get use to that nickname that the kids gave me, "I'll do what I can, Hilde, but I can't promise."

"I know. Just try, okay?"

"You know I will."

"Well, I've got to get going. Lunch break is over. Later, D!" and the connection was cut. I was still trying to figure out her new pet name for me as I put the board back down.

Following her suggestion, I set about scripting "Deathscythe" on the front of the case. It didn't take long and I signed my name on one of the sides. Checking the topcoat of the other one, I deemed it dry enough to add another thick layer and decided to let it sit overnight. I also decide to attack the one I just finished earlier with the topcoat seeing as it had dried quickly.

Before I could head upstairs though, I heard a car pull into the driveway. If I'm not mistaken…opening the garage door, I find Chang getting out of his piece of scrap. I couldn't have been occupied for that long, could I? Taking a quick glance at my watch, I see that I was. I really need to get out more.

More so, I need to look at that package that Une left for me.

Silently I wait for the Chinese man to come in before closing the garage door, though with as slow as he was being, I was tempted to shut it on him.

"I see you've been busy," black eyes look over the remaining two cases, "Where's the other one?"

"Upstairs – I was testing it out this morning."

An eyebrow was raised in my direction. "It's completed?"

"Yeah, the rest of it didn't take long. How were things at HQ?" I ask, trying to change the direction of the discussion to something constructive.

Shaking his head, I can tell that things didn't go as smoothly as planned, "I would have been back sooner, but there were some complications. Also, apparently you literally scared the piss out of the one that was still in the van. Traverse wasn't very pleased about having to drive the van back smelling that."

"I can only imagine Fleet is going to have a fit cleaning that."

Chang shrugged and motioned that he'd be upstairs shortly. Figuring it gave me time to see what that package was, I hurried on up.

Looking at how everything was packed in there, it seems Une enjoys playing Tetris. Pulling the little care package apart, I lay everything out on the sort of island thing in the kitchen. Gun, bullets, mobile phone, PDA, several data discs, and miscellaneous other items along with a note explaining the contents. The gun was smaller and far easier to conceal than the normal issue sidearm. To be honest, while I don't mind the convenience of a gun, I prefer to be original. Looks like the General wants me to start packing from now on though on a regular basis.

Reading over the note quickly, I read it once more to make sure that I have it committed to memory before I find a lighter that we keep around incase of emergency and burn it. The phone she put in the package is a direct and secure line to her and apparently the other three have been issued them as well. Each of the numbers have been programmed in for me.

I go grab my laptop before settling down to inspect the other items. Powering it on, I don't get a chance to sit down before Chang bangs on my door. Letting him in I lead him towards where I'm set up to check out the rest of the gifts.

Pulling up a stool across from me, the Chinese man places the binder he was carrying on the counter. "I see you got one as well," he notes, picking up the new phone.

"You didn't get the rest of it?" I question. I find it rather odd that I got all of this and they merely got phones.

Of course there's one thing that I hadn't taken into account, "We had access too all of this already. Some of it will probably be the same as what we've been briefing you on unofficially. As for that," he pointed at the gun, "I think now you know the reason that we're all carrying more than just the standard firearms."

Raising an eyebrow at my raven-haired companion I inquire about his logic, "And you couldn't tell me this before why?"

"That woman caught wind of the plan late last night, but decided not to inform us until this morning just before we gathered a team and came here." Yeah, I guess that would be kind of hard if you didn't know, but…

Pretending to act hurt, I joke, "And you couldn't call me?"

Chang humors my antics in his own way, "I think all of us know that you are more than capable of taking care of yourself. The day you can't is the day I force you to retire."

Shuddering to mock his mocking me, I shoot back, "Retiring at the age of twenty-two…what's the ESUN coming to?"

Our conversation stays light enough that I can shift the majority of my concentration to the information that I need to absorb by Monday. Occasionally I throw a question out about it to Wufei who answers quickly and calmly. Mostly just a clarification of the information since some of it is presented oddly.

Both of us work until someone bangs loudly on the door. I scramble out of my seat first to go see who it is with Chang being a little more sedate in his attempt to answer it.

On the other side, I find Quatre holding two laptops and Trowa holding a couple of pizzas. The blonde spoke for them, "We thought you might like some food and some company to go through all that information."

Letting them in, I close the door and turn to follow only to find that Barton stopped short, "I'm impressed," is all he states.

Following his line of sight, I gather he's focusing on the mostly forgotten controller sitting by my phone, "Heh, I just finished it this morning when Reilly showed up. I did test it to make sure it works."

His shorter partner comes back to see what held him up, "What did you test to…?" His eyes also follow his partner's and my gaze in which he paused a moment before a giant smile appeared on his face, "Please tell me when we take a break that you'll show us your handiwork."

"Um…sure," really, can I reasonably deny the guy?

Shooing everyone into the kitchen/dining area, we got started over food. The other two pulled up stools instead of making Chang and I shift our work area. It was nice to be working together and eating like this. It felt like I was actually getting somewhere for once, but I also wondered how much of this was real and how much they were simply using me until they got what they wanted.

Granted, all of us are working towards the same common goal, but I still wonder where I rank in their eyes…if I'm a trusted friend, or simply a street rat with some clue as to what's going on and that can help find my elusive partner. I guess it's something that's been nagging at the back of my mind and this is the first time that I've given it any attention.

We never did take that break that Quatre wanted so I managed to get away without having to show them tonight, but I saw the look in those light blue eyes that told me that I wasn't off the hook yet as they headed out to go get some sleep since we reached a stopping point.

Shortly thereafter, I found myself crawling into bed, hoping that Heero would just pick up on that bot. My mobile phone would tell me he was there and I'd be on to see him in a heartbeat.  
----------  
Fin  
by JeiC  
November 2006  
---  
Author's Notes: I cross-post this on deviantart, and Eikou Studios…yeah, I know, Eikou Studios is under construction, but it's always under construction – at least my fics and vids are up and viewable. Everything else…well, it'll get there eventually.  
I am so, so very sorry for the delay with this chapter. Again, I babbled in my DA journal as to what was keeping me and I was doing good keeping on schedule, but…yeah, if you're still reading this, you managed to make it through the little bits of inspiration that extended the length quite a bit.  
AFM is going to be on hold temporarily after this chapter. I need to finish MD so I can release the chapters on time in December. So keep an eye out for _My December_ (I promise, it's a Gundam Wing fic) if you guys are interested. As soon as I finish writing MD (not necessarily posting since it has a strict schedule), I'll be coming right back to AFM.  
On a side note: Getting glomped leaves me feeling so violated…  
Special thanks to:  
**Sukunai Kitsune:** Just a big thank you for your support through my trying to write this entire fic thus far. Just wanted to show you that Duo's braid is useful…so stop trying to cut mine off.  
**Phaenilix and kjady:** Thank you for the reviews on Chapter 7…see, I didn't forget, was just a chapter late.  
**kjady and Susan:** Thank you for the reviews on chapter 8.  
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	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I really should just make one catch-all disclaimer and use it all the time, but alas, I write a new one every time. So it's gonna be the same old I don't own Gundam Wing or Evanescence, but I did write this story so please keep my name on it if you're gonna pass it along.  
Author's Notes: Notes at the end.  
Warnings: angst, language, yaoi implications

**Away From Me  
Chapter 10**

by JeiC  
_----------  
I loathe all I've become_  
_---_  
Getting up at my usual time, I once again turn my alarm clock off before it can sound. No word from my roommate last night. Gathering clothes and heading for the shower, I contemplate yesterday's events. It sounds like someone is targeting us former Gundam pilots, but previously it was in such an indirect way that if there were any incidents, they were so isolated that we may never have put them together.

Mentally I try to pull together anything that I can, and come up with only a few events. Yeah, there was the training session with me, Heero's current mission, Wufei…I wonder if he's come across anything. Quatre narrowly avoided an assassination attempt a couple of months ago and I know Trowa was with him…the head of the Winner Corporation was meeting with Vice Foreign Minister Darlian at the time and it was initially assumed that the assassin botched the mission and went after the blonde Arabian instead, but maybe that wasn't the case there. All I can mentally recall that might be out of the ordinary are few recent events, which does me a whole lot of no good if I want to figure out a pattern to try and link it to any rebel cells that I know exist.

Man, without the Preventers systems, all I can do is speculate. Now that I think about it, I was dumb enough to fall into that trap. I should've noticed that it was far too well planned. Me and my pride…going to get myself killed one day.

They didn't make their move right away though which makes me wonder. Perhaps they were satisfied previously to just get me out of the picture for a while, but I guess once word spread of my return, they weren't too thrilled with the idea and started to move.

Getting myself ready for the day, I throw the safety on of what might as well be a toy gun by the looks of it, but being from Une…expect the unexpected. Tucking it into the waistband at the back of my pants, I grab a looser and longer shirt to better hide the weapon.

Heading downstairs again, I take another shot at getting the boards completed. After throwing another topcoat on the now dubbed "Deathscythe" case, I set about putting the guts into the red one. With the situation at hand, I automatically left the garage door closed earlier and the radio off. This place was supposed to be my safe haven from the rigors of work, but I guess I really should have known that there isn't a place that I can rest my head without worrying about if I'm going to be attacked.

Hooking up the last of the electronics for one side of the board, I look up to find Trowa leaning against the doorframe nonchalantly. He hasn't been there long, but I question, "Breakfast already?"

Shaking his head, he leaves his post and steps in, "We were thinking of going to that café you mentioned…Quatre would like to visit."

Raising an eyebrow at him, I take in his lack of anything resembling a uniform, "Not going to HQ today?"

"They're…fumigating this weekend." Barton isn't normally one to talk in code, but I'm starting to pick up on his meanings: Winner wants to check on the place that Strata is going to start working at in a couple of days and Une is hunting for anyone else involved before we take our investigation to the next level. Well, that's my take on it anyway…or at least I would hope that they wouldn't be dumb enough to fumigate during such an important investigation.

"When were you guys planning to go?" I wonder where the other two are.

The tall man shrugged, "Whenever you're ready. Wufei didn't want to take you away from your hobby."

"Well then…" I smirk, "Guess I'll just finish putting this one together then. Shouldn't take too long."

He shrugged his shoulders again, leaning against one of the workbenches. Silence settled comfortably – he didn't bother me, and I didn't try to engage the quiet, reserved man in some random conversation. It was a good setup.

"Trowa…what's taking you…" Quatre asked blindly, but stopped short when I suppose he answered his own question. "Wow…they're really coming together now."

Screwing the bottom on the unit, I comment, "Yeah, Hilde wants me to go and deliver them in person. Careful – that one is still drying," I warn as he steps close to the green one. Putting my screwdriver aside, I pick it up by the handle that I installed and toss over my shoulder that I'll be back in a minute.

Coming back down the stairs, they're all waiting for me in the hallway. Glad I thought to grab my wallet on the way out.

Once outside Quatre closes his eyes as he faces the sun, "It's such a nice day out."

"I'm all for walking there seeing as it isn't too far," I toss out as a suggestion.

Barton and Chang nod in their agreement. While it might not be too smart of us to do this, at the same time, it would do us well to make people think that we were still at the house.

Light chatter accompanies us on our trek and before we know it, we're at that quaint little café. I can feel the businessman beside me sizing up the place. Geez, you'd think that Phoenix was one of his sisters the way he's overprotective of her, but I guess he's got to protect his company's investments even if that means personally checking this place out.

After each of us got what we wanted, we gathered in at a corner table and it was obvious that the blonde was still checking the place out. "Q, chill out…I think she'd have some standards when choosing a place to work."

He stared at me in disbelief for a moment at having been called on it, but replied, "I know, but I just wanted to see. I just want her to be safe."

Spooning off some of the whipped cream on my hot chocolate, I toss back, "She'll be fine. Phoenix is a strong person…and stubborn from what I gather."

"Just like you, Maxwell. Are you sure she's not some long lost twin sister of yours or something?" Chang smirked as he shot that across the table at me.

"Well, I wouldn't know about that without DNA tests and all, but you seem to have the hots for our next-door neighbor," I parry, scooping up the last of the melting treat on top of my drink.

"Maxwell…" he growls out my name and I laugh. It's rare to catch him like that.

The other two seem to be enjoying our game and I know that Quatre wants to question Wufei about my last statement, but he seems to have some sense of self-preservation unlike me. Trowa simply observes as he drinks his coffee. I don't know how anyone can drink that foul smelling and tasting liquid. I mean, yeah, I drank it when there was nothing else, but I guess I can't see why someone would voluntarily subject themselves to it.

The conversation remains light enough for my thoughts turn on me. How picky I've become – I mean, I used to not care what I ate or drank as long as I was able to. It was a real treat when I managed to steal some apples, but now I'm not living on the streets anymore and I should be grateful for that, but it seems as if I'm taking my elevated status for granted.

Munching on my apple turnover while I wait for the hot chocolate to cool a bit, my gaze shifts out the window to the street. It's early for most people on a Saturday so not too many people are out. A few cars pass back and forth before a hand breaks that, passing up and down in my field of vision. "What?"

"Are you okay, Duo? It's not like you to space out like that," soft blue eyes pin me in place with the most gentle of expressions.

Scratching the back of my head, I laugh lightly, "Heh, sorry…just thinking about stuff."

Seeing everyone, including myself, was finished, we got up, cleaned up, and headed out. I grab one of the free newspapers en route.

The walk back is mostly silent…Chang and I play a weird game with him taking the paper away from me to read it and then me taking it back. Looking up from what I was reading, I can feel it being snatched up again as I stop and look into the wooded area to my left. "Is that…" Instead of finishing my sentence, I head in the direction of the very faint sounds.

"Duo, what are you doing?" Quatre starts to follow me with the other two not far behind. I can hear Wufei making some comment that I've finally lost it.

Hushing them, I listen again and continue to head towards the sound.

After several minutes, in an aggravated whisper, Chang bites at me, "Maxwell, I swear, if you're leading us on a wild goose chase so help me I'll…"

I turn to glare at him, but his attention is elsewhere, listening for something just in his audible range. The other two seemed to have picked it up finally as well.

"I swear you have the hearing of a dog sometimes," he shakes his head, "I can't make out what it is."

Trowa finally speaks, "It's music…I think."

"Are you sure?" The blonde seemed somewhat nervous.

"It definitely is…I know this song…" I don't bother waiting for them, I move quickly, but quietly towards the source. For some reason I really want to find it.

Finding a good spot, I get down and hide in the brush to watch the impromptu show. For the moment, the girl is silent as she fiddles with the player inside the open garage. I know Phoenix lived in a very isolated area, but I never considered why before. Well, outside of the obvious reasons of her popularity, but she's so down to earth and nothing like what I would imagine a celebrity of her status would be like that I think if you walked past her on the street in what I would call her concert attire, I think people would simply assume that she's a really good cosplayer. Provided that they knew what cosplay was. Yeah, when I said I knew the rumor mill, I knew all of it, which also informed me of people's hobbies. You get to learn about all sorts of things that way.

I could feel Quatre come up on my left and his eyes widened once he realized who it was that we came upon. "We shouldn't be here," he whispered.

"Awe, c'mon, Q…where's your sense of adventure. 'sides, the person that we would really have to worry about catching us is you," I nudge his shoulder.

"Heh, I suppose you're right, but…I don't want to invade her privacy." All the same, he couldn't tear his eyes off of her.

Tapping the blonde's shoulder, I signal for him to leave first – it'd be hypocritical of me if we stayed to watch seeing as I gave Q a hard time about obsessively checking out the café…time to get back to work. The four of us exit in a different direction than we entered incase someone had actually managed to follow us and was waiting. We manage to navigate and appear in the backyard of the house.

Entering through the sliding glass door to Chang's apartment we file in quietly. Winner and Barton immediately pull out their laptops to start working, but I excuse myself and head for the garage again. Just one more to go. Once I finish it, I'll have no more distractions…I hope.

Silence fills the time I spend there as I put the electronics into the last one. Not one of the others even bothers to follow me or check up on me, which is kind of nice, but somewhat disturbing in the fact that when they're around, they've tried to at least have one of them with me most of the time, though at least they let me have the luxury of staying in the apartment by myself.

Bringing the last controller upstairs, I don't bother going back down to see what they're up to. Instead, I boot up my desktop and find my little bot sitting there, bored out of its little programmed existence. I also find something else. Someone else is near the bot as if debating what to do with it. Oh boy…maybe the guys were right about not putting it out here.

I jump when the other presence turns its attention to me. Both of us are silent before it turns and hacks the bot…as if he knew exactly how it was programmed. Dammit, Heero, don't destroy it.

I take my eyes away to grab my regular mobile phone as it goes off, I turn back and he's gone. The bot is still there though, but different. My phone rings again and I flip open my phone to answer it, "Hello?" Usually it's my last name, but if there's someone other than Yuy on the other end, I don't want to give up my identity.

"Duo…" the voice is somewhat raspy, but he's there.

Sitting forward quickly I grab for a pen and paper. "Heero, what the hell is going on?"

"_I can't stay on long. Just watch your back – they're in the ranks_," he speaks quickly and softly in Japanese and I feel somewhat bad for having blurted out in English.

"_No kidding. I found that out the hard way. Where are you?_" Come on, buddy, help me out here.

"_I've got to go. I'll contact you again in a couple of days_." Click. Mentally I try to figure out what it was that I was hearing in the background. He only managed to feed me information that I already knew, but he did confirm corruption in the organization.

What do I do with this information now? Grabbing the new mobile phone that Une so graciously gave me, I punch up the Preventer head. She needs to be kept informed.

"Une," short, sweet, and I know exactly who I'm talking to.

"Maxwell here. He made contact again." No need to say who…we all know at this point.

"Can you confirm identity?" I wouldn't be calling if I couldn't.

"Yes. No new information was given." Nothing that all of us don't know about even if it's somewhat unconfirmed.

"Location?"

"Unknown. Intends to make contact again." Nothing like trying to talk in her language, which is keep it strictly to the details.

"Time frame?"

"Couple of days."

"Understood. Keep me informed." Click. You know…they could actually say bye before hanging up on me, but I guess I can't complain.

Though, I suppose I should tell the others. I hate to have to carry two phones all the time, but I don't want to risk missing a call on either. Sighing, I shut down my machine. No point staying on here when he's already come and gone. At least I have something resembling a timeframe now of when he'll be back.

I jump at the sound of someone pounding on my door. What the hell? Getting up, I grab both phones and head for the door. Shoving both of them into a pocket, I debate answering the door with my gun, but I figure if it's one of the guys, they'd not take too kindly to that.

Opening the door, I have a phone shoved into my face. "What the hell is this?"

Looking at the simply text message left, I realize that it came from my normal phone. It simply stated for them to watch their backs. "I didn't send it, I mean, yeah, that's my number, but I didn't send it. I spoke to Heero like two minutes ago and he told me the same thing as well as there is corruption in the Preventer ranks which we already knew."

"You spoke to Yuy?!" Chang pushes his way in, taking his phone back and the other two follow.

"Sorry about that, Duo. He thought you were messing with us when we all received the message at the same time," Quatre tried to smooth over Wufei's aggressive behavior.

Closing the door, I follow where they had decided to gather. Trowa decided to drop the obvious question on everyone's mind, "Are you sure it was Heero?"

Rolling my eyes, I drop with little grace into the recliner. "Yes. When I said I spoke to him I meant that I actually heard his voice. Besides, he hacked my bot and secured a line to my phone. No one else would have been able to do that right in front of me in such a short period of time unless they knew exactly what they were doing."

In the moment that Chang and Winner were silent, digesting what I just said, Barton spoke again, "He has a point."

"What I don't understand was why he was waiting there, just staring at it. It's like he was waiting for me to show up and even then it took him a moment staring at me before he hacked…it…" trailing off I get up and run to grab my laptop, hoping the trail isn't cold by now.

Booting it up as I head back, I sit down and get right back where I was and pick up on what is left of Heero's trail.

"Duo, what are you…" Quatre gets up to see what I'm doing. "Why are you back-hacking…oh…"

I can just feel the grin on my face get broader as I not only follow Heero's trail back to its source, but follow what he was doing that I hadn't seen before. "I think he wanted to make sure that when he called, he knew where I was and who knows if anyone might have succeeded tapping our landlines. It's a lot harder to hack a mobile phone, though it can be done, which is one possibility as to why he didn't stay on very long the other being the obvious that he's being watched, followed, you tell me."

And now I know where Yuy was. Some internet café in Warsaw, Poland. If I remember correctly, he should have been in Munich, Germany, but I guess his leads either took him there or he fled there for safety. Pulling up the last contact with the Preventers from him that had all the header information, I scan through to see if I can find where he was calling from.

Krakow, Poland…he was on the move at that point. Actually…flipping through the rest of the files, I find that he moved around a lot. While his main objective was in Munich, he started in London, then went to Paris, and from there he bounced around quite a bit. Something had him moving more than what his target was, but what?

Feeling the weight of three pairs of eyes on me I laugh nervously, "Sorry, guys. I found out where he is now, but he's on the move and he has been since the mission started. The original target was supposed to be in Munich, but if you look at his call records, he started in London and as of the past hour was in Warsaw. I doubt he's stayed put, but I can't tell if he's following a trail or trying to shake someone."

"Why did he start in London though…then Paris…" Quatre questioned, reading the first two records over my shoulder.

"Perhaps there was another objective – the kind that we only get for black ops," Wufei leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. The puzzle suddenly gaining a complexity that only he would enjoy.

I can hear the blonde groaning next to me as I pull up a newspaper for Warsaw. "Please tell me you have a translator on your computer because I can't read that…I don't even know where to begin helping you look for whatever it is you're looking for."

Blinking, I ask the stupid question, "Why would I have a translator?"

"So you can read that," he points at my screen, "I can't even begin to guess as to the pronunciation with weird letters like that, I mean they look like Romanized letters, but the extra lines and marks…" he whines at me, gesturing at what is as good as alphabet soup to him.

"But I can read it," I toss at him innocently.

Dead silence fills the room before Chang speaks up, "Maxwell, exactly how many languages do you know?"

I shrug, "Enough to know what people are yelling at me most of the time." Seeing the expressions on their faces, I shrug, "What? The girls down at the switchboard sometimes send me calls to direct when it's someone that they don't have a translator for. Sometimes I'll go down there and give them a hand when they are short staffed."

"And in return that's why you always seem to have a stash of chocolate at your desk I'm guessing," black eyes lock onto me and I shrug. Unfortunately, they know I have a sweet tooth and try to bribe me into not going out into the field or I get it as a thank you for helping them out of a tight situation.

Feeling like I've been caught with my hand in the proverbial cookie jar, I smile nervously, "I keep telling them not to, but they always seem so happy when I help them out. Une actually started the whole thing when they got into a bind a few years ago and needed someone to cover."

That opened up a whole can of worms and boy did we ever break from working on the case as I was interrogated by them. Though I kept flipping through the Polish newspapers looking for something, anything that would've brought him there. Eventually they quieted down and the blonde went downstairs to get their laptops so that we could all sit here and work. When he came back up, I was rubbing the bridge of my nose to help ease the strain of staring at the screen for so long.

Before he sat down with his own computer, he remarked, "Maybe we should break for a late lunch."

"_Why, what time is it?_" Blinking I shook my head, "Never mind, don't answer that, I guess I do need a break."

"I may recognize the language as Polish, but I don't understand it. Therefore I don't think any of us would have," Barton noted smartly and I flipped him off.

"Barton and I will go out to get something. Do either of you want anything specific?" Chang asked as he got up.

I don't care and neither does Winner it seems. As they head off, Quatre turns back to me, "Are you going to show me now?"

Blinking I ask what is probably another stupid question, "Show you what?"

Smiling broadly he points at where I had leaned the three controllers against the wall. Sighing I shake my head and set about as I had been asked to. 'sides, I needed to test out the other two at some point anyway.

The blonde keeps me at it for a good hour or so, even after they return and announce that everything was ready in the dining room area. "Dammit, Q, I'm hungry."

"Okay! Okay!" he quickly apologized.

Shutting everything down, I beat him and the others to the food, "You know…I was wondering why it took you guys so long."

"Wufei said it was a place that you liked," Trowa answered.

They went this far out of their way and waited all that time just to pick up something that I liked? Why did they do that? I'm not worth that much time and effort.

I sit down to eat quietly, grateful to be around such thoughtful people, but baffled as to their motivations. Maybe it's just because I'm now needed to continue the investigation.

The conversation over lunch remains light and away from what we were working on. This is supposed to be a break after all. As the meal wrapped up, Wufei got a call on his new phone.

A few short words later and he looked at the other two after he hung up. "That woman has requested our presence. Go get yourselves together – I'll meet you downstairs after I help Maxwell clean up." Once they were gone, he turned to me, "I'm sorry, Duo, but you're going to have to wait."

Shaking my head, I start to pick up, "Figured as much. When they said Monday, they really meant Monday, didn't they?"

"Yeah," the Chinese man said quietly before turning to do as he promised, "It sounds like they've managed to find something while they were cleaning up. You may want to consider making yourself scarce incase something slipped through."

"I'm pretty much at a standstill anyway. There's nothing in the papers I had gone through to give me an idea of what the situation was with him. Look, don't tell Une yet that we know where he was – I have a feeling that even if they sent a team to extract him, he wouldn't be there. Heero sounded like he hasn't slept in a few days, but I don't think he's letting that slow him down," I voice the concerns that I had tried to hide from myself to him.

Wufei reassures me, "Understood. I'll tell the other two that we are going to keep it amongst us for now until we can determine Yuy's actual location, not where he has been."

After a few moments I note aloud, "I think I'll go out for awhile – I need some air."

"Good idea. We may or may not be back tonight depending on the situation." For them to stay there…well, things really must be going to hell in a hand basket.

Smirking, I can't help but tease him, "Don't worry, Wufei, I'm a big boy and I know how to lock the doors, turn off the lights, and unload my gun into unwanted visitors."

"You concern me sometimes."

"And I hope that never changes," I grin broadly with probably the most mischievous face I've ever had.

Rolling his eyes, he gathers his things. "Just don't get your hair cut off in the process or I won't have anything to strangle you with later."

"Have fun, Wufei. And if you would be so kind as to give me a call later letting me know, it would be nice." I wave as he leaves and reality starts to set in. I'm only called on when I'm needed, otherwise, I get left behind.

I can feel the mask that I hide behind leaving me quickly and I simply can't stop the negative thoughts that bombard me. Shaking my head, I wait until I'm sure that they've left and then grab what I need and head out, hoping the fresh air will help some.

While I keep my senses on alert incase I have a follower, I just let my legs take me where they want to go. It's still a nice day out though it has clouded over. I wonder if it's going to rain. I never did get quite use to Earth's weather patterns to be able to predict that. Then again, if I'm not on a mission, I'm inside most of the time and at my desk so the weather doesn't matter to me until I leave wherever I am.

Though I don't like snow…I know that much. It's cold and wet and makes the commute a horrible mess. At least I get to laugh at Chang because he has an even harder time in it with what he drives.

I find myself at the park again, but it seems that I've forgotten to bring the basketball this time. Hearing something roll against the pavement, I turn towards the skate park section and wander over.

I find it somewhat ironic that I'm once again watching the one that I was watching earlier. Taking a seat on a bench outside of the paved area, I observe the girl on skates, noting that she's not using inlines like I've seen others during my travels, but some type of quad. Quatre would have a fit probably if he saw her right now – hand/wrist guards in plain sight, elbow and knee pads peeking out under her sleeves or long shorts, but no helmet. Though a beat up navy blue baseball hat sits backwards on head, keeping her hair out of her face. I wonder what the red "B" stands for.

Going up the end of a high ramp, she catches the edge of it with her hand, doing what seems like a brief one-handed handstand before swinging her legs back down to put her feet back on the pavement. Her movements become less intense as she makes smaller jumps or just skates around the objects. Realizing that she has an audience, Strata makes her way over to me. "Hi, Duo. What are you doing out here?"

I smile disarmingly, "Oh, just killing time. The others had to go somewhere and Wufei took his car so I couldn't work on it again." Though I won't mention that I keep putting off working on the bikes. "You're really good at that, Phoenix, but shouldn't you be wearing a helmet?"

"I…uh…" her expression shows that she's been caught, "I forgot it at home. I just wanted to get out here…it helps me think, you know? It's like feeling the air helps clear my head so that when I go back to work on something I've got a fresh mind." Not being one to stand still, she spins to emphasize the effects that she feels.

Shrugging I respond, "I've never done that before so I couldn't tell you."

"It's fun. You should try it sometime. Rob didn't like this type of skating, but you couldn't get him off of a rink floor," the smile on her face quickly fades as a memory catches her and then reality sets in. Sitting down next to me, a solemn question floats my way, "Hey, Duo…do you think Rob will ever wake up?"

The only other remaining member of her immediate family, my mind recalls. The extended family shunned the two of them after the incident, but came out of the woodwork once she made it big. The girl was smart and didn't associate with any of them, instead the Winner Corporation took legal action against them for a variety of charges, which rumor has it more than covered the medical, legal, and other miscellaneous costs that were associated with the two.

Eh, so I did a little digging at one point, but right now my attention should be on other things, "I'm positive that he will. With a big sister like you looking out for him, he'll pull through."

I can see a blush on her cheeks as I compliment her. "It's just been so long now. I haven't been able to even visit him for a couple of years."

Wrapping my arm around her shoulder, I pull her in for a comforting hug, though I don't know why I'm doing this. I am also baffled as to the words that come out of my mouth, "Hey, girl, you've got to keep a positive attitude. Just keep believing that he's going to pull through even though he might try some dramatics in the process." Maybe it's my own desire to have that kind of faith that made me say it. I guess in a way, it's how I'm trying to convince myself to believe about Heero.

Feeling arms wrap around my waist and a face bury itself in my shoulder, "Thank you, Duo," floats up to me. Realizing where she is and who she's holding onto, Renee jumps, "Oh my…I'm so sorry, Duo. You hardly know me and here I am…"

Holding up a hand to stop her, I reassure her, "Don't worry about it. Why don't I walk you home?" Looking around, I inquire, "Where are your shoes?" I lean forward and look beneath the bench incase I sat over them and didn't realize it, though I'm pretty sure that I hadn't seen them when I approached it.

"At home…I skated here. I didn't want to have to keep track of them."

Shaking my head I laugh, "That makes sense I suppose, and to think, I didn't drive here either."

"Well, you live kind of close…"

Blue-gray eyes turn to look directly at me, and I have to ask, "This is going to sound weird, but which is your natural eye color?"

Blinking momentarily, she pauses to shift her mind to the new topic, "Oh, these are contacts. My manager insists that when I go out in public to wear them, but sometimes I forget. They're supposed to be gray, but I guess some of my own color shows through."

"Being popular is hard, huh?"

Shrugging Renee looks out over the skate park, "Yeah, but it pays the bills."

Filing that away for later analysis, I stand up and offer her my hand. Grabbing it, I notice she plants one of her toe stoppers into the pavement, which I guess makes sense as I pull her to stand and now tower over me, causing her not to roll and fall. Man do I feel short.

Our trek across the small skate park is silent, and I feel like I'm holding her back as she skates ahead of me and then back again. I begin teasing her about it and eventually Phoenix settles into a comfortable pace along side me.

Turning down the quiet, empty road to her house, Strata once again goes ahead of me and then turns to roll backwards a bit – her eyes locking onto mine. "Please don't be offended of me asking, but are you in trouble?" Trying to figure out why she would suddenly ask something like that, she continues after a short pause, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stick my nose in where it doesn't belong. It's just that…well, I…I saw Mr. Chang yesterday driving really fast with the lights going in his car. I mean, I didn't realize that he had police-like lights in his car, but he was heading in the direction of your house and then I saw Master Winner and Mr. Barton as well as a bunch of other Preventer officers."

Oh…that. "No, it's okay. I guess you could say that I'm in a bit of a bind right now."

"But that guy tried to kill you…" Covering her mouth quickly, I can barely make out the apology that she squeaked through her hands.

Grabbing her wrist as she turns away, I suddenly have my arms full, trying to help her regain her balance. "Geez, I'm sorry about that…" Getting the girl steady, I don't let go of her upper arm, "You saw that?"

The fear in her eyes causes me to release my light grasp, but she doesn't move away.

Running my hands through my bangs, I try to explain, "It's not that I'm upset that you saw that – that's my job, you know, stopping bad guys and all. I'm mad at myself because I didn't realize that you were there."

Walking the last few meters to her driveway in silence, I glance at the rocky path. How on earth did she skate over this?

Watching her gingerly attempt to walk over the gravel pathway, I stop and offer her my back, "Come on, I'll carry you the rest of the way…it's too far to try to walk like that." And damn do I know that this is a long-ass driveway. Before she can protest, I insist on my offer.

Shifting slightly as we make our way down the uneven path, I note that she is far too light. Doesn't this girl eat anything? Well, Wufei did say to make myself scarce, and I think I'm following that pretty well right now.

We talk about much lighter topics than what she witnessed yesterday, and at one point I think Phoenix was laughing so hard, she was crying, "Duo…you're too funny. That made my sides hurt."

"Someone's hurting my little Renee?" While the tone was jokingly, there was an undercurrent of a threat.

"Vince!" the girl jumps and I fight to keep from dropping her. Once I step onto level ground, I let her down and watch her fly over to the man that I don't know. "Vince! What are you doing here?!"

Scooping her up in a big hug and swinging her around, I feel like I'm intruding, "I thought I'd stop by and see how you were doing. Apparently you're still not feeding yourself well enough because I could swear your skates weigh more than you do." Turning to me, I once again feel rather short as the guy who is as tall as Phoenix is on skates puts out his hand, "Forgive my rudeness. I'm Vincent Post."

Taking his hand, I return the pleasantry, "Duo Maxwell. If you'll excuse me, I guess I better get going."

Grabbing my hand before I can even contemplate moving away, Strata pleads, "No, Duo, please stay. The least I could do is invite you inside for a snack after you saved me the hassle of having to try to not fall flat on my face in my own driveway."

Vincent came up alongside me and whispered loudly in my ear, "Dude, if you know what's good for you, you'll just go along with it. If she turns those puppy dog eyes on you, forget it, man – you're done."

"Vinny!" she smacked him lightly on the arm in which he rubbed it and then pointed at her as if to prove his point.

"I don't want to interrupt anything…"

"You're not," Post patted my shoulder, "Besides, I was wanting to meet the infamous Duo that Renee talks about so much."

Looking up quickly from where she had sat down on the lower front steps to take her skates off, a deep blush graced her features before she ducked her head again to concentrate on untying the laces.

Following the now flustered girl into the large house, she tucked her skates away in a closet near the front door. "I'm going to get something to drink, would either of you like anything?"

Letting the other man go first, I debate if I should accept. Giving into my dry throat, "Water is fine if it isn't too much trouble."

"No problem at all. Please, have make yourselves at home – I was playing a video game last night so forgive the mess," Strata gestures towards what I'm guessing is the living room before padding away to get the beverages.

Vincent takes a seat before speaking, "I'm glad to see her so happy and alive."

Sitting across from him, I raise an eyebrow, "Oh?"

Laughing lightly, he runs a hand through his shaggy black hair, "I guess I kind of ended up unofficially adopting Renee as my little sister after she saved our asses during the big tour about five or six years ago now…mostly during our stop on L4."

Pulling up my memories, I put him to the lead singer of what was and still is a rather popular alternative band called Nobska. "What happened?"

Sighing, Post shook his head, "The official word was that Marsh caught some sort of disease and was sick in bed. The honest truth is he was shit-faced. We couldn't get him to sober up even for practice, which ended up in Renee often filling in for him. Long after the tour, we finally got him legally removed from the band since he was useless. The whole 'rock star celebrity' status got to his head and he thought he was invincible."

"You know, Quatre actually dragged me to the L4 concert and honestly, I didn't know that was the reasoning. I know she covered on different instruments for other bands depending on what was needed," I admitted.

Leaning forward, he looks me straight in the eye, "Quatre…as in Master Winner?" Nodding my reply, he slumps backwards, "Dude, you must be in tight with him if he invited you along and you aren't family."

"Heh, Q and I are go back a ways. He's a little spastic sometimes, but he's a good guy…one of the kindest people I know." I just feel weird talking about the blonde like this.

From the expression on his face, I wonder exactly how high the little guy is held and by how many people, "Yeah, man. He was such a lifesaver with helping us find another lead guitarist. Marsh had basically infected some of the other musicians and well, that girl better have earned not only her share, but the share of all the other drunk morons she filled in for."

"Master Winner insisted on it although I was fine with simply my pay. It definitely made for a learning experience," the female in question jumped into the conversation as she entered the room. "If nothing else, it helped me pay back the Winner Corporation a little more."

Graciously accepting our drinks from her, the older man chides her, "Girl, how many times has he told you that you don't have to pay him back? They probably are making a damn good profit from everything. You know that us artists see very little of what we actually make for these companies and we're living pretty damn comfortable lives right now." Running a hand through his hair, he starts laughing, "I think we have this argument almost every time I see you. Anyway," his attention turns back to me, "Whoa!" Looking back and forth between us, he remarks, "You guys have the same eye color. That is unreal, being such a rare color. Cool."

Turning I notice that while Phoenix was away, she had also removed her contacts. Both of us shrugged.

"So, Mr. Maxwell, what brought your attention to my little Renee? 'cause I'll tell you now, if you're following her because of who she is, you're in for trouble," Vincent waved his finger at me as if to mockingly scold me.

Putting my hands up, I laugh lightly, "Hey, hold your fire there for a minute. I was just innocently playing basketball by myself."

"In the rain," Strata added. "Vince, lay off him. I already told you how I met Duo."

"And I still say both of you are crazy," he stated, putting his drink down onto the coffee table. No sooner had he straightened up, the rocker took a pillow to the face in which I couldn't help but laugh.

Their interaction is so innocent, but at the same time, you can feel the weight of what is being left unsaid in the air. The world in which they live is so different from mine and I don't even know where to begin trying to understand it, but really, they're just normal people who just happen to be very talented.

"Duo, I'm sorry…I invited you in and all we can do is talk shop," blue-violet eyes look to me apologetically.

I wave her off, "Nah, it's okay." Looking over, I almost want to laugh at the irony, but then again, Quatre did tell me that she was the one that introduced him to the game. Thumbing over at the controller on the floor, I inquire, "Phoenix, do you play a lot?"

"Oh, God, don't get her started on it. She kills my ego every time."

Shooting Post a look, she responds, "I like to whenever I can. Do you play?"

Shrugging, I toss out, "Somewhat. Quatre seems to think I'm better at making controllers though. I just finished making some for an orphanage that I used to volunteer at occasionally."

For some reason, that made the girl extremely happy. "You have to play now," Strata insisted, immediately moving to set everything up.

Vincent laughed loudly, "Oh man, you're in for it. Last Halloween she dressed up as one of the characters. I swear she looked like she just walked off a page in the art book." Turning back to the girl he considered to be like a younger sister, he whined slightly, "I wanted a jam session."

Stopping in her set up, Strata turned to look back at him, "Sorry…guess I just got wrapped up in the moment…"

"It's okay, we can play another time. I have an extra one at the house that I'm not going to give the kids quite yet if you don't mind helping me test it out sometime," not quite a lie…they would better be tested with two people playing at the same time. Particularly if she has the skills that Post suggests she does.

Nodding enthusiastically, the female musician asks, "Want to jam with us? It'll be fun with more people."

"I, uh…" Crap, it sounds like a really good way to kill time, but…I look over at the one on the couch, seeing if there was any chance I could get out of it through his disapproval, but things really never go my way. "Honestly, I don't know how to play any instruments." Here I feel as if I should be hanging my head in shame.

"Can you do this?" Vincent clapped his hands four times as if keeping a beat.

Raising an eyebrow at him, I responded, "Yeah…"

"Well then…I can tell you also have a voice so it's all good in my book," he looked to Strata, satisfied with his assessment.

Wait…what? "What do you mean I have a voice?"  
"You wouldn't be talking to us if you didn't have a voice," the girl explained.

I laughed, shaking my head, and followed their lead. It made an interesting way to pass the next few hours if nothing else.

Really, I mean, I had nothing better to do anyway with the guys at HQ and Heero not due to check in with me for a couple of days. While I knew it was a complete and total waste of time, I hadn't had a chance to unwind and relax like this in what seemed like forever. It's as if just now I'm understanding what being on vacation is about…even though it really isn't vacation and there's a serious problem going on that I should be working on to solve, but…I can't. There really isn't much I can do. I could have spent the day, locked in the apartment, scouring the net for anything and everything to try to find Heero, find the bastards that put him into this situation, and kicking some bad guy butt.

At the same time, I'm also seeing what else I could be doing if I wasn't so wrapped up in my work. Epiphany anyone? Okay, not really, but it's starting to get there I think.

It was late in the evening when Post's phone demanded his attention. "Crap…sorry guys, I guess I lost track of time. I need to get going so I can catch my flight back to L4."

Phoenix whined a little about him having to leave so quickly, but we said our goodbyes and followed him out to where a car was waiting to take him back to the spaceport.

Holding out my hand, he clasped my wrist, and I followed his example, "It was great meeting you, man. I'll trust you to keep an eye on her down here. If she acts up, let me know and I'll straighten her out. I am her self-proclaimed adopted big brother after all." He turned to the girl and gave her a big hug to stop her protests in regards to his statements to me. "See you around, kiddos! Be good!"

With that, the taller man was in the car and on his way to the spaceport. Glancing over at the girl, she stared after the car, looking like she really wanted to cry, but through me for a loop when she turned and smiled, "Sorry if I was whining earlier. Vince has been a really good friend to me and I hardly ever get to see him now. It's hard to part ways, but at least we're not saying goodbye."

I simply nod, not knowing what to say. Though I feel almost as if I'm looking in the mirror, seeing someone else that can go from acting like an all out kid one moment to an adult with the weight of the world on your shoulders. Phoenix is definitely wise beyond her years and it seems to have served her well both in her career and in her personal life.

Wish I could say the same for myself. I've just seen shit that no one, no matter how old and how experienced, should ever see. Well, better me than anyone else.

"Do you have a friend like that, Duo?"

Eh? "Um…well…I guess Heero is sort of like that for me. Though I wouldn't consider him a brother, but he's definitely got my back. Wufei has really been there for me as well. Same for Quatre and Trowa even if I don't see them that often." Man, I feel weird talking about my partner and the others like this.

Raising an eyebrow as if she wanted to question me further, Phoenix shrugged, "Do you think I'll get a chance to meet Mr. Yuy? Master Winner has always spoken highly of him, and you as well. Same for Mr. Barton and Mr. Chang."

"I think I'm almost afraid of what Quatre has said about me, but a lot of people look up to Heero. It's kind of hard not to I suppose." Please have forgotten your question about when my partner is supposed to return.

Soft laughter reaches my ears as she sits down on the front steps to her house, enjoying the warm late spring/early summer evening. "It's always good things. Though one thing I remember him saying is that you are unpredictable, but in a positive way. He referred to one time that you appeared in his office without warning to celebrate his birthday."

Laughing at the memory I add my own tidbits, grateful that Renee didn't continue her question of when the Japanese man would be back, "As I recall, I snuck into his office, past all the security and his secretary, and he didn't know I was there until I dropped his present on his desk. I think I had an unfair advantage in that Q was so wrapped up in his work that you could have flown a shuttle through there and he wouldn't have noticed unless it rustled his paperwork." I took a seat next to her, knowing I should be taking my leave as well, but desperate for some company.

Blinking at me, the astonishment in her voice was apparent, "You went all the way to L4 to visit him on his birthday? Wow…"

Shrugging I respond, "I tend to show up unexpectedly a lot." Lets not talk about how much information I get that way. Being able to hide in shadows is a great skill. "Are you going to be attending the college in town here?"

Nodding enthusiastically, the taller girl replied, "Yeah, I'm really excited, but I'm kind of nervous at the same time."

I know we talked for a while longer before my hip got buzzed by an incoming text message from Trowa. One good thing about text messages is that you can keep having a verbal conversation with someone while you respond to the other. I'd have hated to break Phoenix's train of thought…especially since I find myself having a genuine interest in what she's going to be studying.

Tucking my phone back away, an opening in the conversation comes up and I think an outside perspective couldn't hurt to have, "I was actually thinking of taking some time off from my job myself. Maybe getting my degree…what do you think?"

Raising an eyebrow at me, Renee turns to face forward again, seriously contemplating my question. I really wasn't expecting her to take the time and put a whole lot of thought into it, but…yeah, I should stop having expectations at this point. "I think normally I'd ask you why since you seem to be really good at your job, but…I guess Master Winner did me a favor when he made me take a break. I want to tell you that it's a good idea, but as much as I think it is, you really have to decide what is right for you yourself. He decided I needed a break, but I was the one that decided to use that break to go back to school. It wasn't an easy decision to make, but someone made the suggestion once and I kind of jumped on the idea. Then it was a matter of what and where I wanted to study. Master Winner gave me the suggestion of coming here since you guys lived here and he trusted you, but the choice was ultimately mine and I'm very grateful for that."

"You know, I actually like that response far more than the yes or no answer I was expecting. I think once things settle down, I'll really look into it. Thanks," I mean it.

Covering her yawn with one hand, she waved off the gratitude, noting her comments were nothing. It took me a few minutes to convince her to go get some rest, but as we walked away on opposite directions, Phoenix had one last thing to say, "Today was a good day, wasn't it?"

Pausing for a moment to consider everything, and as much as everything is hanging in the balance right now, progress was made. "Yeah…yeah, it was."_  
----------_  
Fin  
by JeiC  
June 2007  
_---_  
Author's Notes: I cross-post this on deviantart, and Eikou Studios…yeah, I know, Eikou Studios is under construction, but it's always under construction – at least my fics and vids are up and viewable. Everything else…well, it'll get there eventually.  
On a side note: Typing one-handed sucks.  
Special thanks to:  
Cripes, I really have a long list of people. There are so many people that have spoken to me, encouraged me, listened to me, and understood that I was going through a period of time where I simply did not have the time and energy to continue this fic. Some people just bugged me when the next chapter was going to be out, but…to me, it meant a lot that everyone was coming back and looking forward to the next chapter.  
I'd love to be able to answer when the next chapter is going to be out. I honestly don't know. I was bound and determined to have this chapter out this month even if it meant typing the remainder of it with one hand. My other hand is out of commission and will be for who knows how long. We'll see what happens over the next few weeks with physical therapy and whatnot. So I apologize now for being slow to respond to comments and even slower with the next chapter.  
I honestly wasn't super happy with this chapter, but I covered what I wanted to cover. Guess I'm feeling awkward now trying to write Phoenix. A lot of it is probably her personality clashing against mine. Though I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. I've got an idea in mind for a small portion of the next chapter that I think people will enjoy if I can pull it off right.  
Again, thank you, everyone.  
_----------_


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I really should just make one catch-all disclaimer and use it all the time, but alas, I write a new one every time. So it's gonna be the same old I don't own Gundam Wing or Evanescence, but I did write this story so please keep my name on it if you're gonna pass it along.

Author's Notes: Notes at the end.

Warnings: angst, language, yaoi implications

**Away From Me  
Chapter 11**

*by JeiC

* * *

_I've woken now to find myself  
In the shadows of all I have created_

---

Jumping out of a sound sleep, I have my gun aimed and the safety off before I'm even conscious enough to comprehend that the obnoxious noise that woke me was the alarm clock. So that's what it sounds like. Shutting it off, I slide out of bed. It probably would have been a very bad start to my day if I had put a bullet through it.

Covering up a big yawn with my hand, I pad my way to the bathroom to get my day started. I don't think any of the guys came back last night, but if they did, I might not have woken up for it. You know, familiar, trustworthy presence and all.

My thoughts shift to what information I know as I set about my routine. What's bothering me is that there is one crucial piece of information missing and while I keep wanting to believe it is in the unedited recording, something is telling me that I'm going to be disappointed once I get my hands on it tomorrow.

If nothing else, hopefully it'll turn up something of use…like the bastard that set Heero up.

Ringing the excess water out of my hair, my stomach growls for attention. Well, no superb cooking by Wufei to feed it this time so I guess I'm on my own. I just don't feel all that hungry as much as it sounds otherwise.

After changing up, I head into the kitchen and decide to put some water on to make tea. I don't make green tea all that often anymore. Finishing that task, I take it and my laptop out onto the back porch to enjoy the comfortable morning weather while I once again attempt to tackle the mystery of my missing roommate.

I get pulled back to reality by the sound of wood hitting wood repeatedly. Closing the lid on my laptop, I get up and peer over in the direction of the sound to my neighbor's back yard. I have to blink to make sure that I'm seeing correctly. The two girls, each wearing a gi as well as a hakama faced off in a fluid battle with what might as well have been two sticks…they looked to be about 120, maybe 125 centimeters each.

The only thought that crossed my mind at that point: "My next-door neighbors are weird." But then I remembered my own weirdness so it all evened out.

Turning to go back to what I was doing, I got caught, "Good morning, Duo!"

Facing the two women, I wave, "Good morning, ladies!" I presume the one waving was Sienna. Sierra doesn't strike me as one to be quite so outgoing.

"Want to join us?"

Laughing lightly, I reply with my twisted sense of humor, "Thanks, but I think I'll pass for today. You know what they say about women and weapons…" And oh man is it true. My best students for when I taught improvisational weapons was probably eighty-percent female at the very least, and that was being extremely generous to our poor, fragile male egos.

Sienna laughed, "Yeah, the guys at the dojo tend to try to avoid the female population when we work on weapons techniques."

I couldn't help but find amusement at the mental image. "Well, have a good practice, ladies. It's a great morning for it."

"Thanks! Later, Duo!" Sienna waved and jumped when Sierra poked her in the back with her weapon.

Turning, I return to my own task. I wouldn't have minded joining them, even with the prospect of being hit with a stick, but there are other things that have to take precedence right now.

Rubbing my eyes, I glance at my watch to realize that nearly half the day is already gone. Debating staying out here and searching through newspapers and various information sites, or going inside and checking on my bot, the phone ringing makes a third option.

Tucking my laptop under my arm, I head in to take the call, "Hey there, Princess. What do I owe the pleasure of this call?" It took a few years, but Relena and I have come to understand each other…even so far as to tease each other a bit on the rare occasions that we get to talk. Definitely on friendly terms and getting more comfortable with each other at every encounter. I think the big reason for our sort of butting heads sometimes is the difference in status, but we try to make the most of it.

Smiling broadly, she kicks up the dramatics, "The rigors of the political world are getting to me – I need to talk to someone that isn't a stuffed shirt."

"You mean someone that doesn't have their head up their ass?"

"Yes, that too."

"Sorry to break it to ya, kiddo, but…Heero's out at the moment." What am I supposed to tell her, really? I mean, if she wanted to know about the guy, I'm sure she could charm the information out of anyone.

The young vice-foreign minister's smile turned into a mischievous grin, "That's fine – I'd rather talk to you instead. Heero…doesn't always understand my perspective on the ESUN bureaucrats."

"You just called them stuffed shirts."

"And you better clarified my feelings towards them with your response to that."

Touché. "Point taken." Though something occurred to me that I had to ask about, "What about what's his name? That guy you're dating."

"Jean? He recently decided that his interests lied elsewhere. It was a decision that I supported."

Ouch, and I know Relena was really into the guy. I have a feeling though it wouldn't be a welcome subject if I continued with it. "So what can I do for you, little lady?"

Sighing, she sat forward and looked at something off to the side. It beeped a moment later. "Okay, the line is secure now. It's a new set of protocols that Director Une sent me that should make it a lot harder to tap and if someone does, I'll be notified."

"I'm feeling set up here, Relena…" I warn her, letting the blonde know of my dislike of this. If the General is bringing the Vice Foreign Minister in, this has to be on a much broader scope that I initially estimated. I almost want to laugh at the title that she gave the Preventer head…in the eyes of the government, there was no militaristic ranking system, but on our end, it helped keep things clear.

Rubbing the bridge of her nose, she tries to console me, "I know, Duo, I know. I like this about as much as you do. I mostly called to see how you're fairing through all of this. I really don't have any information yet, but there has been a pressure building slowly in the senate."

My mind bypassed her comment about checking on me and latched onto the political side, "What do you mean by 'pressure building?'"

"I don't know what for just yet. I'm…not exactly in the Senate all that often. That may be why I am also able to notice a difference in the tension levels while everyone else seems to consider it normal." The look on her face tells me that she's been hunting, but turning up empty-handed.

Resting my chin in my hand, my eyes go unfocused as my attention turns inward, "No weird bills or whatever that people want passed lately?"

Shaking her head, Relena remarks, "Nothing yet, which is why I haven't been able to turn up anything. Whatever is going on, they're gathering their supporters first."

"Figures…then people wonder why I tend to try and avoid politicians. Present company excluded."

The smile I get is one of understanding…understanding how much of a pain in the ass they are, "Somedays, I really do wish I could take a break from the political arena." Pausing a moment, my friend restates her previous question, "Really, how are you holding up, Duo? I know how much Heero means to you and with the current situation I can…"

"It's okay, Relena," I cut her off before she makes herself uncomfortable. "I've been keeping busy – taking up some hobbies, doing some work on the vehicles...or I would if Wufei ever left his car here long enough for me to do something with it."

It was good to hear her soft laughter. "That's good to hear. Rumor also has it that you've been looking for him."

She's a lot better informed than she lets on. "I'm always at least ten steps behind finding him though. I haven't been able to make the connection between his movements and his available mission parameters," or in short, I don't know if he's running Black Ops and what that might be, "I'm sure I'll find out soon when I go back to HQ."

Leaning forward, she tried to look at directly into my eyes as she could through the video connection, "You'll find him, Duo. You're the only one I know who can."

Put the weight of the world on my shoulders, why don't you? "This is Heero we are talking about. If the guy doesn't want to be found…"

"You'll find him anyway. He...has told me about various times he went into seclusion, but you somehow managed to locate him anyway."

"I didn't have to follow Preventer protocols and procedures then."

"I think you would do well helping the Preventer Corp in revising their protocols and procedure through a field-tested example."

I couldn't help but laugh at her twisting around of the situation, "Loopholes are my friend. I'm also glad to have you as one as well, Lena."

"Anything I can do to help. It's good to have you as a friend also, Duo, though we may have had our misunderstandings in the past." Grinning from ear to ear, she asks, "So what kind of hobbies does a workaholic like you have?"

We chat amiably for a length of time, mostly about nothing. I think the Vice Foreign Minister seriously needed a break from her political role for a while just to feel like a normal human being again. I don't mind keeping her company, but sometimes things can become strained between us when we run out of common topics.

Realizing what time it was, Relena admitted, "Guess I should get back to work. Sorry to take up so much of your time, Duo."

I shake my head, "It's no problem at all. Sounded like you needed a breather from whatever it is you're working on. Besides, I wasn't doing anything important anyway." My stomach growled in response of having been neglected.

"Are you forgetting to eat again?" beneath the joking tone, I can hear the undercurrent of worry.

Holding up my hands, I defend, "I'm not! I just wasn't hungry this morning and…okay, I did forget breakfast, but it was just today," I hang my head in shame.

Narrowing those blue eyes at me, she debates for a moment before responding, "Okay, I won't tell Heero when you get him back, but you owe me dinner and a movie the next time I'm in town."

"Lena…" I whine. Honestly, I don't mind, but it's more fun to put up resistance.

That mischievous grin on her face lets me know that there is no way she's going to let up, "Well, I suppose if you just let me play with your hair instead…"

"NO!" Letting out a puff of air into my bangs, I relent, "Fine, but the movie is tentative. If there's a good concert going on then, we'll go to that instead."

"Yay!" the wheat-blonde girl jumps in her chair and claps her hands together – completely opposite the image of the Vice Foreign Minister. She usually cons at least one of us into taking her out. We all know there's nothing romantic about it. Relena would be ecstatic if we took her to go play miniature golf or just out for a cone of ice cream. All she really wants to do is hang out with the people who understand her and act her age for a while. It's…just hard to get all of us together at the same time so she often settles dragging one or two of us out at a time. Come to think of it, it has been a long time since we hung out.

Hey, she's the one who voluntarily works with a bunch of old farts, but I suppose that can take its toll after awhile.

Saying our farewells, I hang up with a small smile on my face before the weight of the world comes crashing back down on me. Placing my head on the desk, my stomach growls, demanding attention again, "Fine, fine…I'll feed you."

Getting up, I start scouring the kitchen for something to make for a late lunch. Not finding much interest in making a sandwich or something that was basically heat and serve, I debate the notion of trying to make scrambled eggs. Don't ask me why, but that sounds pretty good at the moment.

The only thing holding me back is the fear of completely and utterly destroying it. I mean, yeah, I've watched Wufei make them before, and it seems simple enough.

Making up my mind, I set about my mission. About ten minutes later, I have edible, though not overly presentable, food.

Taking my breakfast for lunch food I pad my way onto the back porch again, somehow snatching up my laptop in the process. It takes a few minutes of staring at the screen, in which I managed to down my food, before deciding to find out what's new in the underground. Hackers are great when it comes to getting information.

I've just been worried about doing this thanks to my devotion to playing by Preventer rules. I used to break rules without giving them half a thought, but I guess things changed when I was given a chance to be something as long as I kept clean.

Well, blew it already, might as well just add more to it. Though, I don't have to let them know that I'm doing a little of my own digging.

Popping into a fairly popular hang out, I immediately get the text version of an obnoxiously loud squeal followed by, "Is it really you?! You haven't been here for AGES."

Smiling to myself, I kick back, "Yeah, work kind of kept me busy there for awhile. How're you doing, Trace?"

"Eh, same old. Not everyone can have an exciting life like you. So what have you been up to? Get in any good hacks lately?"

Trace really doesn't know who I am beyond someone who used to take down some of the pompous pains in the asses that come on without breaking a sweat. See, practicing with Heero was good. "Nothing major. Got into the Preventer network is about all."

"That's one hell of a claim to make. Got proof?"

My attention shifted over to the newcomer, "Sorry, just went in for some information that I needed and left. Unfortunately what I was really looking for is kept on hard copy only." Pausing for a minute, I added, "And no, I'm not sharing how I did it. "

I got a chorus of disappointment before the newcomer, LeftyCatcher, responded, "Too bad, I would have liked to have seen some proof of your claim."

Shrugging to no one I respond, "Maybe next time I'll grab a souvenir."

"I look forward to it." Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into?

Trace made a laughing motion, "Dark, you and Light are the only two that I know that could break into the Preventer network and not get caught. I hear they've got at least two former Gundam pilots helping them keep up ahead of the rest of us. Any of us get close, and they beef up their security protocols. Too bad the Senate hasn't decided to take a few lessons from them."

I bite my tongue about the rumors and latch onto the other part of her comment, "If you guys are playing on the Senate servers, there's got to be something interesting going on there," I try to keep it casual.

"Not really, but there's been a lot of heat building up between the members of the Senate on various budget issues. Seems like the Eurasian Senator has been working with the other European Senators to try and get their portion of the budget increased. They've even motioned for the Colony shares of the budget to be decreased," my hacker friend elaborates, "But that's not the interesting part. Apparently there's something else going on that the rest of us haven't been able to find out yet."

The one that asked me about my claim earlier jumps in, "All we know is that it has to do with the Preventer Corp…they're targeting five specific agents for some reason. That's about all we've ever managed to get."

Raising an eyebrow, things get more complicated as things finally start to begin to make sense. "Got names per chance? It's related to something else I've been working on."

I can almost feel Trace grin through the connection, "Tell me what you're working on and I'll tell you what I know."

Why did I have a feeling I'd have to trade up at some point? At least she didn't ask me to tell her how I got into the Preventer systems. "About all I can say is I'm trying to find Light and I'm pretty sure that this is tied to me being able to find him."

"Trace, just give Dark the info. The guy will probably hack the information out of you before you even realize he's doing it."

"Oh, shove it, Track."

I raise an eyebrow. Very few hackers worked in teams like Heero and I, which is why we chose such corny, semi-matching names. One day I became curious and found out that Track and Trace were actually brother and sister. They make for an interesting pair, though I suppose the same could be said about Light and Dark. The difference between them and us was that individually, my partner and I could each stand on our own and outclass anyone that we came across. Together, well, lets just say that it doesn't happen very often. Mostly we just ran a divide and conquer on information gathering. Man, I miss doing all of this.

"Listen, kid, we owe Dark a lot…he's saved our asses on multiple occasions. Do you know how fast we'd have had Preventer agents at our door if it wasn't for him?"

Oh boy, I really didn't want to start a fight here. "Hey, how about this, Trace…I'll take you out to dinner after I get Light back if you help me out. Sound like a fair deal? Maybe I'll be able to talk him into coming as well." Now that was an offer I knew the girl couldn't refuse. According to her, we're her greatest puzzle that one of these days she'll crack.

"Hm…I don't know…"

Anyone could sense the glare Track gave her. "Dude, if Trace doesn't take it, count me in. A once in a lifetime opportunity has been deposited on my lap. How can I refuse?"

"What?! No way, bro – that offer was made to me."

"Hey! I'll take both of you out to dinner if you want, but I really need to find Light. You know, life and death situation here," I try to redirect both of their attentions back to the matter at hand.

"Oh, sorry, man," Track apologizes.

Trace finally elaborates, "We don't actually have names, but the old geezers have been using what looks like OZ's old names for the Gundam pilots. You'd think they'd come up with something more original…"

Not much help, but still a huge clue. I can't guarantee that just because OZ used to call us by those designations that it means us former Gundam pilots. Yeah, it's a pretty good conclusion, but I'd rather not jump the gun, "You guys happen to get proof?"

"No sweat, we've got copies of everything with the names of the Senators involved attached. It's been a puzzle that Trace hasn't been able to put down for months…and you know how short of an attention span she has," her brother joked.

"Hey!" the girl screeched as well as she could in the text-based room. "Just so you know, 01 and 02 have been their main focus as of late. Apparently they think that those two are the most dangerous – particularly 02 for some reason. Something about they thought they had 02 under control, but he or she is going to be becoming a potential problem again soon. Tomorrow I think it was. I can send you what I've got if you want it."

"That would be perfect," I privately sent her the address of where to dump the information.

"Dark," LeftyCatcher spoke up again, "How does all of this involve Light?"

Sighing to myself, I barely have any more answers than they do, "All I know is that he was following some leads on something that the Preventers were looking into. Don't know much more than that. This is the closest I've come to figuring out what he was working on."

"That's weird…it's not usually Light's MO," another piped up. "Aren't you the crazy one that'll physically chase down what you're looking for, Dark?"

I conceded, "Yeah, that's usually the case, but you know how he gets every so often. Can't keep him trapped in the house forever." Though honestly, the last time I came in here looking for information to track someone, it was to track down Heero. Of course it's been months since I last popped in to say hi and see what the latest and greatest is.

"Yeah, that's true. Hey, can I talk to you privately for a minute?"

LeftyCatcher's request was odd, but I played along. Setting up a secure area, I dragged him into the room with me, not patient enough to tell him how to access it.

"Holy shit, man. You really did hack the Preventer network. Only someone of this caliber could do it." I could tell he was looking at how the room was constructed.

Keeping my outgoing annoyance to a minimum, I prod, "You wanted to talk to me privately."

"Listen, I don't know what is going on, but I ran into Light the other night. He was going from one Russian server to the next. Never said what he was looking for though. Seemed to be in a hurry all the same. In any case, I thought with being his partner and all, you'd like to know." There was a short pause before he continued, "This is the list of servers I watched him enter."

Said list was then added and with the sheer amount of servers Heero hacked, I had to question, "Why were you watching him?"

"Whoa, chill, man. I'm not stalking your friend or anything. I've been trying to enter some of those same servers, but I can't find the databases I want. Light happened to bring to my attention a whole list of hidden servers that I wouldn't have realized were there otherwise. I'm man enough to admit his skills are way out of my league."

After I made note of the information, we parted ways. And now back to the siblings.

Trace yelled at me for taking so long, but in short order I got a rather large set of files dumped on me and spent the remainder of my time until early evening working through the information before deciding on another course of action.

Except that definitive course of action was to answer the pounding on my door. Can't say I recalled hearing any of the guys come home, but I was awfully engrossed in my work. I made a mental note to start correlating the gathered data from those two and compare it with the dump from Heero.

Quatre stood there with a couple of pizzas and a bag with soda bottles hanging off his arm. "It's pizza night again."

"So it seems," I got out without any emotional tone behind it. It really was time for a break as my eyes were starting to cross from staring at the screen for so long. Blinking at his meandering towards the coffee table, I realize something odd, "Hey…ain't two of those a bit much?"

Looking up the blond realizes what I'm talking about, "Oh, Trowa and Wufei should be back soon. They left the office shortly after the Senate got out of session, and after listening to the politicians bicker all day long about the budget and various bills, I decided it was pizza night. So what have you been up to today?"

Heading to go get plates and cups, I debated telling him about Relena, but then realized that he probably already knew. "Got a call from the Princess."

A light laugh followed me into the kitchen, "I take it you were the one she was heading off to vent at then. I think if Miss Relena could have, she would have been pulling on her hair most of the morning session."

Now that would be bad. "What the hell is going on in the Senate if it's even got Lena frustrated out of her mind?" Gathering what I had set out for, I head back towards Winner.

"Well…" the blond paused, and the look on his face told me he was trying to gauge his words for the best summarization. "It really boils down to them bickering about budgets. Senator Kuts was being rather forceful about getting a larger portion of the budget for the Eurasian and European sectors."

"Yeah, I heard about as much…" Upon the questioning look from my friend, I added, "Not from Lena. I sort of started doing my own digging." The conveniently timed knock on my door gave me the perfect opportunity to dodge the next question.

Letting a soggy couple of Preventer agents in, I busy myself with taking their wet jackets and hanging them up to dry off for a while, pushing them towards where the other one had plopped himself on the living room floor. I'm so glad our back porch is fully covered otherwise I would have been soaked.

"Maxwell, I hope you weren't digging your own grave with that," Wufei mentioned offhandedly. Damn, I was hoping that these two would distract the former Sandrock pilot.

Reaching for a slice of pizza, I retort, "I've dug myself enough of a nice little hole already. Thought I'd make a little more room."

I should know that sarcasm is a fine line with these guys. Thankfully Trowa caught on faster and diffused a possibly volatile situation I caused for myself. Silence followed for a bit before Quatre's curiosity got the better of him, "So really, what were you doing digging for that kind of information?"

Looking straight into those soft blue eyes, I tell him straightforward, "Looking for Heero." Sighing, I grab my glass and use it to hide behind to give myself a moment before continuing, "Really, the information has basically been dumped into my lap. Civilians know that there's something going on in the Senate. They've been watching it and filing information for months, but haven't made sense of it. I need to compare the data I reviewed earlier with the dump from Heero before I can say that the two are definitely related."

"For once it might be nice to not be part of a world-scale conspiracy," Barton deadpanned. I snorted lightly having not expected the response. He waited for his partner to stop laughing before he continued, "Are you good for tomorrow, Duo?"

Mulling over the details I was given, I toss back, "As much as I can be I suppose. I'm so far behind you guys it isn't funny."

"Actually, you're about as up-to-date as we are. I'm hoping that Une will have gotten through the red tape that is around the Black Ops part of Yuy's mission." Chang's usual demeanor and the information he just dropped was ruined by the slice of pizza dangling from his fingers.

So it was a double mission. Would this have dealt with the government corruption? I suppose the answers that I really wanted wouldn't be answered until tomorrow…or maybe I already have them. Dropping my slice onto my plate, I jump up and run towards my room, starting a data dump to my laptop and dragging it along with me back to where the others were, nearly running Q over in the process.

Well, that's what he gets for trying to follow in the path of my madness.

Sitting back down, I toss the machine onto the sofa behind me. "It's going to be a bit before the files transfer over."

"Duo, I don't think that's going to answer who set up Heero." Pale blue eyes looked at me with something. I couldn't tell you exactly what, but it was more along the lines of pity than following my process.

Practically swallowing the bite I had just taken whole, I try to explain, "No, I know it won't get our mole, but it might find the person who issued the orders. Hate to say it, but I'm pretty much banking on the recording to find that one. Not unless you'll let me try to get Kenyon to tell us more. Either that or you could also go with the 'shit rolls down hill' theory. Seems to work well enough when we've got a higher up who is more concerned about saving his own skin."

Black eyes narrowed as their owner contemplated my last statement. "It couldn't hurt to let you try to get him to talk, though with how much he despises you it could continue to go nowhere."

The tactician turned towards Wufei, "You never mentioned that Kenyon had a problem with Duo before."

"Yeah, but Quatre, the guy seriously looks up to Heero. He wouldn't have put his role model in harms way like this purposefully even if he did decide that he wanted to smite me." Running my hand through my bangs, I use it to cover needing a moment to reorganize my thoughts, "The guy has barely passed any of the courses that I taught, and the only one he failed was run by both me and Heero. Wufei was one of the evaluators. The guy simply is not cut out for field work."

"Even Une agrees with that assessment," Chang tossed out.

"Oh yeah, I forgot he tried to appeal to get reevaluated. That went all the way to the General?" That much I hadn't known before. But then again…

Nonchalantly reaching for another slice of pizza, the Chinese man clarified, "It dealt with one of us. She wanted to personally oversee it before IA decided to step in and accidentally overstepped their bounds."

Purposefully worded. Didn't know we didn't have to answer to IA. That's always a plus. Those guys are creepy I tell you. Not human.

Now that I think about it, maybe in some way I started it all. Kenyon didn't like me, then that class with Heero and Wufei came up. That'd give the guy a reason to not like two more of us despite his hero worship of my partner, after that it might not be too much of a stretch if he could connected Barton and Winner with us.

"Spit it out, Maxwell." Looking away from where I had been contemplating my drink, my eyes lock onto those dark orbs.

Putting my glass down, I try to reword it in a way that doesn't show the shadows that I've cast on the others. "What if…what if Kenyon's dislike of me eventually worked its way out to all of us?"

"Not feasible," a quiet voice toned in.

His partner continued to elaborate, "Kenyon strikes me as the kind of person who will only dislike those that have kept him from progressing to where he wants to be. Everyone else, he either likes or simply doesn't recognize. If nothing else, he's a classic case of someone who wants to climb through the ranks quickly, but he also won't step on toes to get there unless he has to. Yes, the lack of certification for field work was a blow, but his anger will be directed at Duo." Soft blue eyes turn to me, "No offense."

I shake my head to let him know none was taken as I continue to eat. Me, manners? What are those?

The others continue to psychoanalyze the whiny little man, and as soon as I finish, I reach back to find that the transfer has finished somewhere in the interim. This really has the markings of something that Treize might have tried to pull off, but I think I'd be disappointed if it was some other split off faction of something like the White Fang or Mariemaea's army. Especially if it was attached to one of those two.

"What are you thinking, Duo?" Quatre leaned over to see what I was working on.

Exhaling loudly, I leaned back against the couch behind me. "A whole lot of nothing. Mostly just speculation." Flipping through a couple of screens, I toss out, "I mean, yeah, speculation can lead to something, but I'm man enough to admit that I've been way off my game lately."

"Perhaps then we should call it a night," black eyes pierced me and something came out of his mouth that I could not have expected under any circumstance, "If you're going to be the leader of this group again, then you'll need to be back on your game. Rest should help that."

"What do you mean 'leader,' Wufei? I've never taken a lead position and you know it. Either I work solo or provide support of some sort. Isn't that what blondie here is for? Or hell, if Heero was here, he's our unspoken leader." I start to rise to my knees to put myself over them, sliding my now closed laptop underneath the coffee table in the process.

"You've always been. You've just never taken an active role," Barton softly slides into the confrontation.

Putting a hand on my shoulder to try and get me to stop anything that I might regret, the former Sandrock pilot tries to clean up the mess that's been made to some extent, "Duo, please listen. None of us realized it before this incident came up. You may not have seen it as such, but you really are. Just not in the traditional manner. We're not asking you to change that. I'm a tactician, not a leader. I can tell you what I see, but I can't move people like you can. Certainly we can all stand on our own and fight, but we're stronger when we're working together and…"

"You're not going to get through to him that way, Winner. Maxwell can't see what he's capable of because he has always worked in the shadows. It certainly fooled all of us until it came down to this. I had been hoping that he was aware of it." The proud Chinese man took the time to clean up while he spoke. What was the guy getting at? "It seems that our enemies noticed it. That's probably why they went after him more actively than the rest of us."

Pushing forward so I could get in Chang's face, I demanded, "What do you mean went after me more actively than you guys? What about Heero? The guy is currently…"

"He was sent out on a solo mission which provided a prime opportunity for our enemies. They had to create elaborate plans to get at you." Pausing to tuck a stray lock of hair behind his ear, the full-time Preventer continued, "Especially seeing as they thought to try and get at you before you even set foot in the office again. Something they have thought twice about attempting again."

I can't follow their logic at all. "Yeah, well, I see that more as I should be going underground, not standing up with a big target on my forehead. No matter what you say, I'm not any sort of leader. Sidekick is probably a better term at this point. You sure as hell don't see me adding anything to the damn book."

"A leader who is considered a sidekick. Surely that's a bestseller right there," Trowa commented offhandedly.

Smirking I wonder how much from the last time I saw him that he expanded his role as a clown at the circus. "Look, lets just call it a night and argue about it later because this isn't getting any of us anywhere, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I really don't like running in circles."

My best friend there doesn't seem to keen on the idea, but decides against dragging this out further. "Fair enough. Don't forget to bring Archer with you in the morning. Winner will be going to the Senate again tomorrow, and Barton and I will be checking Kenyon's apartment first thing."

"Didn't know we had access to his apartment." Why didn't one of them say this before?

Grinning, Chang corrects, "We don't."

Oh boy, this just went from Special Ops to Black Ops real fast. The remainder of the clean up time is spent silently, which thankfully only lasts a few minutes.

As my first floor neighbor follows the other two out, he pauses to turn, "Oh, and don't wear your uniform. Just bring your jacket. There's a fair chance that we'll be needing to be in civilian attire at some point."

I didn't get a chance to respond before he closed the door behind him. Gee, thanks Wufei. Who is the leader now? Seems like I'm the one taking orders here.

Man, this is so messed up and technically Heero is due back in three days. I feel like I'm on a damn rollercoaster that doesn't know where the end is and I can't see the track to brace myself for what is ahead. Actually, sounds like a few shuttle rides I've had over the years…

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Fin  
*by JeiC  
April 2009

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Author's Notes:

I think I seriously need to apologize for taking nearly 2 years to get this chapter out. It first started off as the chapter that I couldn't get to do anything, then, well, one thing after another in real life took control and my being easily distracted led to different fandoms and a lot of one-shots.  
I don't know how quickly I'll be getting the following chapters out, but I'll try now that I'm back into it and writing myself into an ever bigger hole with it. Remind me to stop throwing writing exercises into really long fics the next time I try something like this.

On a side note:  
It's a pain in the butt to type with 2 of your fingers taped together.

Special thanks to:  
Whoever is still reading this fic.

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